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THE BAILEY TWINS 
And the Rest of the Family 


/ 
























They were inspired to begin the long-talked-of letters 

to Aline. — Page 154. 





THE BAILEY TWINS 

AND 

THE REST OF THE FAMILY 


BY 

ANNA C. CHAMBERLAIN 


ILLUSTRATED BY ELIZABETH OTIS DUNN 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 


PUBLISHED, AUGUST. 1914 


-v'l' 

* ¥> 


Copyright, 1914, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 


All Rights Reserved 


The Bailey Twins 


, 4 _ 14 - 7 =?°) 


AUGJ25 1914 

Iftorwoofc {press 

Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U. S. A. 

© Cl, A 3 SO 0 9 0 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Concerning Their New Hats . . 9 

II. A Matter of Discipline ... 41 

III. Sunday Contemplations .... 68 

IV. The Lost Baby 94 

V. The Festival 115 

VI. Being Photographed .... 132 

VII. Christmas Joys 153 

VIII. Father’s Sermon 174 

IX. A New Sister 203 

X. More Wedding Bells 223 



ILLUSTRATIONS 


They were inspired to begin the long-talked-of 

letters to Aline (Page 154) . Frontispiece 



FACING 

PAGE 


Their whole dolls — numbering but two — ap- 
pearing as guests at the festal board . 42 

A “j iggledy-j oggle&y” ride 92 

And Eliza said it wouldn’t have happened if 

Nell had held back 98 ! 

Nell was chasing Mr. Rogers . . . . .124 / 

Just as the photographer said, “Get ready 

now” 148 ^ 

Plenty of room for Nell and Eliza on his 


strong, steady knees 



/ 


For once the twins performed their part with- 
out one single blunder 236 



THE BAILEY TWINS 

AND THE REST OF THE FAMILY 

CHAPTER I 

CONCERNING THEIR NEW HATS 

T HE Bailey home on the Kirksville 
road was in a whirl of preparations. 
There was no question about the 
whirl, as the sounds proceeding from the 
house testified; but if any one had had 
the curiosity to enter and investigate, he 
would have found that the cyclone cen- 
tered in the room where the toilet of the 
twins was in progress. Mr. Bailey was 
away, as usual, on his missionary duties; 
Herbert, the oldest of the family, Willis, 
the bookworm, and Edgar, the baby, had 
no part in the proceedings; but the rest 
9 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

of the family labored in the cyclone dis- 
trict. 

In the large south chamber at the head 
of the stairs Aline, nineteen years old, 
was pinning her collar with silent de- 
corum. Eleanor, aged twelve, slender 
and sedate, her conduct a living testimon- 
ial to her admiration for her elder sister, 
followed this and other details of personal 
decoration with equal propriety. Far- 
ther along the hall, in the middle-sized 
bedroom over the front door, two boys, — 
Fred, aged seventeen, and Aleck, four- 
teen, — were likewise engaged in the mys- 
teries of the toilet in solemn stillness. 
Fred passed the razor soundlessly over 
his fuzzy cheeks, while Aleck wrestled 
with the buttonholes of his unaccustomed 
collar in voiceless misery. 

But two paces from the turn of the 
banister, things were quite different. 
From the closed door of the north room 
10 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 

issued the cries and exclamations of those 
not used to “suffer in silence.” 

“Now, Ma, not so tight!” 

“Ouch, you’re pulling!” 

“O-o-oh, I got soap in my eyes! 
Where’s the towel?” 

The Bailey twins, aged seven, were be- 
ing prepared for a trip to town, and they 
beguiled the process of dressing, as they 
did every other action, with outcries, com- 
ments, and arguments. The reason for 
their turbulence was the continual vortex 
of their own excitement, in which they 
lived and breathed. In the midst of the 
tumult of sound their mother, a gentle, 
kindly woman, usually speechless, since 
she seldom found opportunity for a word, 
was patiently combing, braiding, button- 
ing, and tying. 

“Now I’m all right,” declared Nell, ex- 
amining herself in the mirror, when her 
stubby black braids were firmly tied. 

11 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

“ But I’m so smooth. If I only had some 
curls!” 

According to her custom, Eliza ap- 
propriated this idea. 

“Ma,” she said politely, “won’t you 
make me some curls? Right across here,” 
indicating the slippery smoothness of her 
front hair. 

“Now, Ma, may she? I wanted them 
first!” cried Nell excitedly. “Let me 
have them!” 

“But I asked first,” persisted Eliza, 
with the deliberate calmness with which 
either twin could lash the other to mad- 
ness. 

“I guess there will be time for two curl- 
ings,” replied Mrs. Bailey; and in the 
thrill of this new excitement silence 
reigned for a brief moment. 

“If I only had a fan now!” exclaimed 
Nell, when she emerged, red and perspir- 
ing, from the process of being curled. 

12 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


Again Eliza, less inventive, took ad- 
vantage of the idea. 

“Oh, Sister, Sister!” she cried, speeding 
down the hall, “mayn’t I carry your fan?” 

“Oh, let me!” shrieked Nell, trotting at 
Eliza’s heels, “I said first. Let me!” 

“You mayn’t either of you have it,” 
said Aline coldly from before her mirror, 
where she was adjusting her hat. “And 
if you can’t be quiet, I’ll ask Mother to 
keep you both at home.” 

Awed at the thought, the twins stole 
back to have their shabby last year’s hats 
put on their heads and made fast by means 
of a rubber band passed under their 
braids, and then, hearing the sound of the 
surrey being driven to the entrance, they 
flew down to the front door. Any one 
seeing the wild rush with which they 
emerged from the house, would have un- 
derstood why their father had insisted 
that only the old plow horses should be 
13 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


used in taking the children to town, and 
that Fred, the calmest and most patient 
of the boys, should be the driver. 

Herbert had brought the surrey 
around, and was now tying the horses. 

“Don’t you children go to clambering 
into the buggy now,” he said, when he had 
made the pair safe and fast. 

“Why, Herbert!” explained Nell, 
round-eyed and important, “we have to 
get in. Don’t you see? We just got to 
have new hats, you know ; our old ones are 
so — so — ” 

“Well, you keep out of the surrey till 
Fred comes,” repeated Herbert firmly, 
“or your new hats may have to wait. 
See?” 

And leaving things in this dark and 
horrible uncertainty, he went back to his 
day’s work. The possibilities were too 
dreadful to be tampered with, so the twins 
gave up their plan of choosing their seats 
14 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


and being all arranged when their elders 
appeared; and mindful of freshly 
starched dresses, stood gingerly on the 
door-step. 

“I think an empty buggy looks so kind 
of lonesome, don’t you?” said Nell, eye- 
ing the vehicle wistfully. 

Eliza did think so, but it was 
against her principles to agree with her 
twin; so she merely pursed her lips like 
Miss Ramsay, their dressmaker, and 
tried to think of some contrary sentiment. 

“I mean to ride in front,” went on Nell, 
who never could learn by experience. 
“As soon as Fred comes, I’m going to ask 
him. Ma-a-a, don’t let her! ’Tisn’t 
fair!” 

For Eliza, the plagiarist, quick to act, 
if slow to think, was already half-way up 
the stairs. 

“Fred, Fred,” she cried, “may I sit on 
the front seat with you?” 

15 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


At the same time Nell, a close second, 
was wailing, “ ’Tisn’t fair! I said first. 
Let me.” 

“You can’t either of you sit there,” said 
Fred, emerging from his room, somewhat 
flushed with his decorative efforts, but 
none the less resplendent, with his smooth, 
shiny cheeks and his gorgeous pink tie. 
“Think I can drive with a hyena or a cata- 
mount up beside me? Eleanor is coming 
with me, and you’ve got to divide up be- 
tween Aleck and Aline; and if I hear so 
much as a squawk out of either one of you, 
I’ll drop you down Big Hollow.” 

Too much amazed for speech or protest, 
the twins dropped back, hardly recogniz- 
ing Fred, their most sympathetic and 
good-natured brother, in this severe and 
autocratic young man. For Fred, more 
than all the rest, had seemed to under- 
stand that at the bottom of their honest 
little hearts the twins did not mean to be 
16 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


naughty or disorderly or quarrelsome. 
Things had to be explained, however, and 
if you had always the fear of interruption 
before you, wouldn’t you talk fast and 
eagerly? 

Fred had a theory that the noisy and 
superabundant energy of his small sisters 
could be disposed of by suitable exercise, 
and that the problem was only to find en- 
terprises of sufficient magnitude which at 
the same time were safe undertakings. 
The time he set them to knocking down 
the plaster in the old tenant’s house and 
dragging up little carts of sand for the 
new plaster, was well remembered as the 
most peaceful fortnight the family had 
known for years; and Mrs. Bailey was 
only too willing to condone the extra 
grime to be removed at night for the sake 
of her peace of mind by day. And here 
was Fred saying “sha’n’t” like Herbert 
or AJine ! The worst of it was that Fred 
17 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


did as he said, and if Fred said he’d leave 
them at “Big Hollow,” he certainly 
would. 

For this reason it was a very meek pair 
of children who submitted to being “di- 
vided up” between Aline and Aleck 
on the back and middle seats. They 
were arranged, too, in such a way that 
they were not even directly opposite 
each other, so the mere consolation of 
making faces, pulling down their eye- 
lids, pursing their lips, or thrusting 
out their tongues, — a popular means 
of enlivening dull moments, — was denied 
them. They could only talk, and that 
across two unsympathetic elders, who 
were likely to interrupt at any critical mo- 
ment. 

But at last they were on their way, that 
was something. And even if the wind 
blowing on the back of Eliza’s neck did 
tickle her a good deal, it blew her curls for- 
18 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


ward, so that they showed a good deal 
more than Nell’s, “which is a blessing,” 
Eliza thought, as she sat with her head 
sideways after the manner of Miss Cates, 
their Sunday-school teacher, giving her- 
self a smug and self-satisfied air particu- 
larly irritating to her twin. 

Nell was not looking for trouble, how- 
ever. Her thoughts were on the new 
hats, and every flower by the wayside, 
each changing tint in earth or sky, sug- 
gested only a new variety of coloring and 
adornment for her prospective head-gear. 

“My hat’s going to be kind of purply,” 
she began at last, when her surging 
thoughts threatened explosion if denied 
utterance any longer. 

Eliza smiled a three-cornered smile, 
fearful to contemplate. The twins were 
fond of impersonating people by imitating 
small peculiarities of speech and manner, 
and Eliza’s present effort was an airy at- 
19 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


tempt to be Miss Porter, their teacher, 
who raised her upper lip to one side in 
smiling. 

“I don’t think purple is any color at 
all,” she said, laying one hand across the 
other elegantly, after the manner of the 
minister’s wife. 

“I did not mean just purple,” said 
Nell, hastening to correct a false impres- 
sion, “I just meant a kind of purply- 
pink.” 

She was trying to describe lilac, Aline’s 
favorite color, which Nell very much ad- 
mired. But Eliza preferred to differ. 

“Maybe I’ll have blue,” she said, cast- 
ing up her eyes, “not just common sky- 
blue, but a real, un-u-su-al greeny-blue 
with a kind of a yellowy look.” 

“Humph! How would that look!” 
sniffed Nell. “It wouldn’t have any look 
at all.” 


20 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 

“Not with violets mixed with roses?” 
persisted Eliza. “I mean to have Aline 
get all the roses in the store for my hat.” 

“You sha’n’t do that,” exclaimed Nell 
in alarm, “ ’cause I’d want some.” 

“You couldn’t have any,” said Eliza, re- 
joiced to have found a vulnerable spot. 
“Aline would give them all to me.” 

“You wouldn’t, would you, Aline?” 
begged Nell. “You’ll let me have roses 
for my new hat? Eliza isn’t to have all, 
is she? Ali-i-n-n-ne !” 

Now Aline’s head ached this morning, 
and, moreover, she had her own private 
worry and dread. It was now three 
weeks since she had taken an examination 
for a teacher’s certificate and had applied 
for a position in the Emporia schools. 
Since then she had heard nothing; and she 
was wondering if she would see Superin- 
tendent Rogers this morning, and what he 
21 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

would have to tell her. Beside this real 
trouble, small matters like hats and roses 
seemed trivial. 

“Oh, do stop fussing, children!” she an- 
swered wearily. “I don’t know anything 
about your hats. We’ll leave all that to 
the milliner. Perhaps she will think your 
old ones are good enough to make over, 
so that we’ll not need new ones.” 

No new hats! The twins looked at 
each other in horror and dismay. No 
new hats! And the sun still shone, and 
the birds sang while this dreadful possibil- 
ity, this sword of Damocles, was hang- 
ing over their heads! Nell’s lip began to 
quiver, and her eyes filled. With Nell 
these signs portended trouble, and it was 
well to make explanations or to change 
the subject, and so avert the coming 
storm. But her elders were occupied 
with their own thoughts or observations, 
and the cup of the child’s woe filled fuller 
22 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


and fuller. No new hats! No “purply- 
pink” ribbons! No roses! And the cup 
overflowed in a wild torrent of grief. 

“I-I wa-a-ant a ne-e-ew-w ha-a-at!” she 
wailed vociferously. 

“ Gracious, child! What is the mat- 
ter?” said Aline, called out of her troubled 
thoughts, and the team came to a sudden 
halt. 

“Whom did I hear asking to be sent 
home?” asked Fred in a voice of deadly 
calm, as he turned to look back. 

Silence reigned. Aline and Eliza were 
looking accusingly at a tearful little girl, 
flushed with the tremendous effort of 
holding back her grief. But Aleck, who 
seemed to know by instinct when not to 
notice a person, looked at the birds in the 
hedge, the flowers by the road side, and 
the corn in the fields. 

“F-false alarm,” he said slowly. 

Aleck had a little halt in his speech 
23 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


which made him speak deliberately. Per- 
haps it accounted for the fact that he so 
seldom told on a person. 

“I’m glad of that,” said Fred, taking 
up the lines again, and after a moment of 
painful indecision the old horses jogged 
on. 

In her first tragic recoil against the 
thought of keeping her old hat, Nell had 
snatched it off her head, and it now lay 
in her lap, battered and homely. After 
she had swallowed her tears and the oth- 
ers had turned their attention elsewhere, 
her eyes again sought the forlornness of 
her hat. As she looked away again to 
keep back the tears, she met Aleck’s gaze, 
quizzical and sympathetic. 

“L-looks like that t-toy d-dog of yours 
after I s-sat on it. R-remember how you 
b-bawled?” he remarked. 

Nell remembered. It was a sore mem- 
ory with her yet. Then Aleck went on 
24 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 

studying the roadside, and Nell — yielded 
to temptation. 

“What in the world are you wriggling 
around so for, child?” asked Aline fret- 
fully, for her headache was growing 
worse. Nell quickly settled into quiet, 
and Eliza looked at her critically. 

“You’ll be all black if you don’t wear 
a hat,” she said severely, “and your hair 
will be all uncurled. I want to be nice 
when I get there.” 

But Nell could not be stirred to strife. 
She fidgeted a good deal, which was not 
to be wondered at, since the drive was 
long ; but she did not talk, and when they 
turned down the street towards Aunt 
Cynthia’s, where they always stopped on 
a trip to town, she put on her hat with a 
meekness which made Aline look at her 
sharply. 

“You’re not sick, are you, Nell?” she 
asked anxiously, adding, “Mercy, how 
25 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


your hat does look! I did not realize 
what a mop it was.” 

And Aleck, turning his eyes that way, 
gave a sudden, unaccountable snort. 

“ ’Tisn’t polite,” said Eliza, primly, 
who seemed at times to feel responsible 
for all the manners in her vicinity, “to 
laugh at any one’s hat, even if she does 
look a perfect fright.” 

Aunt Cynthia welcomed them with 
open arms, and was undecided whether 
to speed them on their way to the mil- 
liner’s, or to urge them to stop to an early 
dinner first. But finding that they must 
return home that evening, she advised 
that they do their down-town errands 
promptly, and then return to her for a 
late dinner and a rest before the home- 
ward journey. 

Aline would not soon forget the ordeal 
at the milliner’s. When Nell realized 
that Eliza had pink rosebuds and she had 
26 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


none, even her entirely new hat in its 
bravery of blue ribbon bows and stream- 
ers, could hardly console her; and when 
Eliza found that the wreath of pink rose- 
buds and Nile-green ribbons were to go on 
her old hat, which must first be made over, 
she could scarcely be dragged from the 
store. And when it was further im- 
pressed upon her that in the meantime 
she must wear a borrowed hat, perhaps 
Nell’s old one, Aline recognized a coming 
storm. 

“Hush! hush! Not a sound,” she com- 
manded desperately, gripping the child’s 
arm with a firmness which astonished 
them both. 

And just then, looking up, she saw 
Superintendent Rogers, who lifted his 
hat, gazing at her quite intently. The 
surrey was waiting, for which she was 
thankful, and Fred helped hustle the 
twins into their places in spite of their 
27 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


voluble attempts at explanation and pro- 
test, and, bareheaded, with the millinery 
— old and new — in parcels at their feet, 
they hurried back to Aunt Cynthia’s. 

Aunt Cynthia was always their haven 
of refuge in town. She had welcome and 
house-room for as many as the big surrey 
could carry, and speeded them on their 
journey homeward only when she could 
persuade them to stay no longer. To- 
day, in answer to her urgent invitation 
for them all to stay for the May Festival 
which was going to be held in Uncle Hal’s 
grove the next day, it was decided that 
Nell, having the new hat, was the only one 
who could stay. The rest of the hats 
might be finished to-morrow, but they 
could not bp sure. At any rate, they 
would be sent up to Aunt Cynthia’s when 
ready, to be called for by the first one 
coming from the farm. 

They thought every one but Nell had 
28 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


better go home, since they were expected, 
but it was a rather downhearted company 
that made ready for the start. Aline was 
depressed about the encounter with Mr. 
Rogers, to whom she had had no chance 
to speak. To be seen reprimanding and 
almost shaking her little sister on the 
street ! What kind of a teacher would he 
think she would make! Eleanor and 
Eliza had their hat troubles, worse now 
than ever, for to-day each had to wear a 
borrowed one. Eleanor was too loyal to 
her admired elder sister to grumble at 
wearing Aline’s old hat, but Eliza was 
frantic in her rebellion against Nell’s 
shabby finery. 

“I wa-a-ant my new hat! I want my 
ne-e-ew hat!” she shrieked, as Nell’s old 
one was thrust on her resisting head, and 
ceased her screams only for sheer lack of 
breath as they drove away. 

Aleck was somewhat dejected, for he 
29 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


had spent his hard-earned dollar in a man- 
ner not wholly satisfactory to himself, 
having bought a necktie, two pairs of 
socks, and an ivory toothpick which, if 
held between the teeth, so the salesman as- 
sured him, would be of great help in over- 
coming his peculiarity of speech. It did 
help a little, he was glad to find; but it 
did seem as if a dollar ought to have gone 
farther. Still Aleck was not one who 
brooded, and he brightened at the thought 
that there were other dollars in the world, 
and he would in time, doubtless, earn one 
of them. 

Fred’s trouble lay deeper, for he, as his 
new razor and pink necktie testified, had 
met the “one girl”; and to-day he had 
seen her in White’s new automobile, while 
he was driving old horses that hadn’t 
spirit even to prick up their ears as the 
machine passed. 

“Darn it!” was his desperate thought. 

30 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


“Why couldn’t Herbert have driven the 
plugs, or else the children act decent, so a 
man could handle the colts?” 

With such a load of trouble, it was no 
wonder that the surrey creaked and 
groaned as it started down the curved 
drive leading from Aunt Cynthia’s door 
to the street. When their heads were 
turned toward home, however, the 
“plugs” set out on a very respectable trot 
in spite of their load. Just below, where 
the curve of the drive swept into the main 
road, was White’s automobile. 

Fred took out his whip in a determined 
way, resolved that if his team could not 
wake up a little on such an occasion, he’d 
try to learn what a little “hickory oil” 
would do. They were just rounding the 
curve down to the street. This lay sev- 
eral feet lower than the level of the yard, 
and the drive, sloping downward with a 
gentle grade, was bordered with high 
31 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


banks, rounded with a sharp curve in each 
direction. Just here Fred touched his 
horses with the whip to accelerate their 
speed and spirit as they whirled into the 
street. As he did so, Eliza glanced back 
at Nell watching them from the piazza, 
and the full sense of her own wrongs came 
upon her afresh. 

“I want my new ha-a-a-at ! I want my 
ne-e-e-ew hat!” she squalled, just as the 
team sped round the curve. 

Fred gave one desperate backward 
glance. 

“ Can’t you shut that young one up?” he 
muttered. 

That moment’s inattention was fatal. 
The horses swerved ever so slightly, the 
wheels ran up along the bank, and the 
surrey tipped — tipped — and went over, 
spilling its helpless occupants into the 
street. 

Fred never loosened his hold on the 
32 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


lines, but sprang quickly forward, and 
with Aleck’s help, began to unhitch the 
frightened horses while the automobile, 
stopping promptly, sent its load also to 
the rescue. Aline lay where she had 
fallen, slightly stunned; but as they lifted 
her, she roused enough to ask if the chil- 
dren were safe. Eleanor had got up of 
herself, nursing a bruised shoulder, and 
followed her sister into the automobile 
with a certain shy pleasure in the new ex- 
perience. 

Only Eliza lay still on the grass sob- 
bing bitterly. 

“Poor little one!” said Ellen Ritchie, 
Fred’s “one girl.” “Pick her up gently, 
Mr. Fred,” for the horses were now safely 
tied. “See how she cries! Where does 
it hurt, darling?” 

And Eliza, having recovered the breath 
jarred out of her by the fall, took up her 
plaint just where she had laid it down: 

33 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“I want my new ha-a-a-at! I want 
my ne-e-e-ew hat!” 

After the overturned surrey had been 
righted and drawn out of the way, White’s 
automobile sped up to Aunt Cynthia’s 
door with the victims of the accident, 
where they were comforted, rubbed with 
liniment, or made to rest, according to 
their hurts. Fred and Aleck took their 
rig to the blacksmith’s to have its slight 
injuries repaired, and they all agreed to 
accept Aunt Cynthia’s cordially renewed 
invitation to remain and attend the May 
party, sending word of their intention by 
White’s people. 

‘‘Only I ought to have had a new hat,” 
murmured Eliza, still aggrieved in spite 
of the fortunate way things had come out. 

“Then you should have sat on the old 
one,” said Aleck, biting hard on the tooth- 
pick. 

A little guilty flush crept into Nell’s 
34 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


cheek, and Aline exclaimed reproachfully, 

“You didn’t, did you, Nell?” 

“It was a accident,” began Nell quickly, 
adding honestly, “Just at first it was. 
Then when I found the old thing had got 
under me, I just let it stay.” 

“Anyhow you won’t have pink rose- 
buds,” said Eliza virtuously. “Badness 
always punishes us. That’s why I am 
good.” 

The May party which they attended 
the next day was all they had anticipated, 
and was the means of dispelling many 
worries. Mr. Rogers was there, and 
greeting Aline warmly, announced that 
her application for the new room had been 
accepted. 

“When I saw the excellent control you 
had over your own little sisters,” he con- 
cluded, smiling, “I knew you were just 
the one for the place.” 

Fred’s “one girl” was there, and as they 
35 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ate a dish of ice-cream together, she com- 
plimented Fred on being such a safe and 
careful driver, and “so good to your little 
sisters, who are so funny and bright. Al- 
ready they seem to know their own minds, 
Mr. Fred.” 

“They certainly do,” agreed Fred, 
thinking of the new hats. 

As for Aleck, he regretted more than 
ever the limited capacity of a dollar, when 
he priced the ice-cream and learned that 
it was ten cents a dish. But just then 
Aunt Cynthia said: “My treat!” And 
after that Mr. Rogers invited Miss Aline 
and her family to have some. Then Un- 
cle Hal said, “Have one on me, boy,” and 
just before they left Fred said, “Come on, 
Aleck, I’ve just enough for two more,” 
and after that he did not see what he could 
do with a dollar if he had one. 

And then they went home ; all the girls 
in fresh hats, which had come in time for 
36 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 


the party. The rose-wreathed ones were 
so much the prettier that Nell regretted 
more than ever her impatience and trick- 
ery. 

“I think it is much nicer for twins to 
be alike,” she said pointedly to Eleanor, 
whose hat was rose-wreathed, too; but 
Aline would not hear of an exchange. 

“You wanted a new hat badly enough 
to scheme for it, Nell,” she said. “Now 
be contented, for it is very pretty.” 

And laden only with light hearts, the 
surrey rolled smoothly on its homeward 
way. But conversation languished, for 
the elders were each absorbed in new and 
pleasant plans, and the twins were too full 
of ice-cream and excitement for fluent ut- 
terance. Nell, the turbulent, looked at 
the red of the approaching sunset, trilling 
softly to herself with sweet discordance, 
while Eliza leaned back peacefully, the 
burden of other people’s wrong-doings al- 
37 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


most slipping from her slender shoulders. 

“Looks like ‘golden gates’ and ‘pearly 
streets’ and ‘River Jordan,’ ” crooned 
Nell, her eyes fixed on a luminous bank 
of clouds. 

“That’s wicked,” said Eliza severely, 
“to talk of Bible and Sunday things right 
out loud in your every-day voice. You 
ought to say them soft and silky, like 
this,” and Eliza emitted a sound strangely 
like the cry of a sick kitten. 

“That’s not a commandment,” said 
Nell, with sleepy crossness, “an’ nenny 
way I don’t care.” 

“Why, Nell Bailey!” exclaimed Eliza 
in round-eyed horror, “saying ‘don’t care’ 
’bout things like that, is like a nin-fiddle 
and a-publican and a-sinner.” 

“Who’s saying Bible words in bad tones 
now?” demanded Nell, turning the tables 
with unexpected adroitness. 

But Eliza scorned a reply. Instead 
38 


CONCERNING NEW HATS 

she assumed Miss Ramsay’s puckered 
lips, Miss Cates’ smug, tilted poise of the 
head, and casting up her eyes like Dr. 
Smith, she piously crossed her hands like 
his wife. There had been times when this 
combination had reduced her twin to fran- 
tic tears of fury. But Nell was not look- 
ing. Instead she leaned against Aline’s 
inviting shoulder, and her lids drooped 
sleepily. Her heavy head sank lower and 
lower, until it was gently slipped down 
upon the silken smoothness of elder sis- 
ter’s lap. 

“Seems like as if I had somebody soft 
’side of me, I could go to sleep, too,” said 
Eliza enviously, casting aside her grown- 
up poses, and remembering only that she 
was a very sleepy little girl. 

“How would this do?” suggested Aleck, 
folding the carriage robe across his knees 
and relieving its fuzziness with his best 
silk handkerchief. 


39 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“ ’Tisn’t very soft,” said Eliza criti- 
cally, as she rested her head on it. Then 
the whirling wheels buzzed a lullaby, and 
the springs rocked gently. “But it’s 
pretty nice,” she added drowsily, and 
Eliza had joined her twin in dream-land. 


40 


CHAPTER II 

A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 

6 ‘T 7T THAT is the meaning of this 
V V unusual peace and quiet- 
ness ?” demanded Willis, when 
being relieved from the labors of the 
farm by a prolonged rain, he sought the 
society of a beloved book. 

Aline looked up from a confusion of 
small white garments on which she was 
sewing buttons, strings, and patches, ac- 
cording to their varying needs and degrees 
of dilapidation. 

“The twins have been so much quieter 
the last few days,” she answered, “I’m 
almost afraid they are sick.” 

“Now, Ma-a, must she? ’Tisn’t fair!” 
wailed Nell’s voice from the veranda, 
where the twins, driven by the rain from 
41 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


the sand pile, the pebbly stream, and their 
beautiful moss houses, were giving a tea- 
party on the wash-bench, their whole dolls 
— numbering but two — appearing as 
guests at the festive board, the maimed 
ones peacefully asleep in their cradle. 

At this outburst Aline and Willis 
looked out to see Eliza, somewhat flushed 
with the eff ort, rapidly devouring the tiny 
biscuits, the little crackers, and the small 
round cookies, which Nell, by means of 
much coaxing and many promises, had 
procured for this festivity. 

“How can I be Jim Ellis come to sup- 
per, ’less I eat fast like he does?” de- 
manded Eliza, with an air of injured in- 
nocence. 

Nell was in no way appeased by this 
explanation. 

“ ’Tenny rate you sha’n’t have any 
more,” she said, gathering up the slender 
remains of the feast, “and I’ll tell Ma 
42 



Their whole dolls, numbering but two, appearing as guests 

AT THE FESTAL BOARD. — Page 42. 



















































4 




t 







» 
























































A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


how greedy you were and spoiled the 
party.” 

“Do, and I’ll ’splain how umpolite you 
were, snatching things away from your 
visitors,” returned Eliza. 

Nell hesitated. Explanations were so 
difficult. She could never retain the Miss 
Ramsay pose for long, nor even the pious 
hand-clasping of the minister’s wife. Be- 
fore she knew it, she was talking loud and 
fast, and Mother was saying, “Now, Nell, 
you are too much excited. Let Eliza ex- 
plain.” And Eliza’s calm, proper expla- 
nation had always made things seem so 
diff erent from the way they had looked at 
first. 

“If I d’vide things so, will you tell?” 
asked Nell, portioning out the small re- 
maining morsels with numerical preci- 
sion. 

Eliza considered, quick to recognize her 
advantage. 


43 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“And give you this much?” continued 
Nell, breaking the one beloved sugar 
cooky so that about two-thirds fell to 
Eliza’s share. 

“Not if you d’vide that way, I won’t,” 
surrendered Eliza amiably, “and I won’t 
be Jim Ellis any more. I’ll be Mis’ 
Smith,” crossing her hands primly for a 
moment, “an’ you can be Ma. Why, how 
do you do, Mis’ Bailey? And how are 
the twins? Such nice little girls! Espe- 
cially the one that sits outside and rolls up 
her eyes so pretty when she sings. Seems 
to me she looks a little pale, Mis’ Bailey, 
I hope the other one — the one that screams 
so loud and goes to sleep in the sermon — 
I hope she hasn’t been teasing such a good 
little girl.” 

“ ’Tisn’t so,” said Nell, very red in the 
face; “Mis’ Smith wouldn’t talk evil 
speaking, lying, and slandering like 
that.” 


44 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 

Eliza, having freed her mind, was con- 
tent for the moment to overlook this use 
of “Bible words” at a party. 

“Have you seen Mr. Man lately?” she 
asked, making an adroit change to a 
rhyming game of their own invention, “or 
Mr. Fan, or Mr. Dan, or Mr. Ban, or Mr. 
Pan, or Mr. Ran?” 

“No,” said Nell glibly, her troubles 
forgotten, “but I saw Mr. Ten and Mr. 
Wen and Mr. Fen and Mr. Hen and 
Mr. Den.” 

‘“Mr. Tall came to our house yester- 
day,” continued Eliza, “and brought Mr. 
Hall and Mr. Ball and Mr. Fall and Mr. 
Wall.” 

“So did Mr. Mell come to our house,” 
went on Nell, taking her turn promptly, 
“and Mr. Well and Mr. Fell and Mr. Dell 
and Mr. Sell and Mr. Tell and Mr. 
Hell — ” 

“Why, Nell Bailey!” reproved Eliza, 
45 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

with such a start of horror that she 
knocked Nell’s best doll off its chair 
and set the dog to barking. “Don’t 
you know it’s a sin to say that word any- 
where but in church?” 

“No, I don’t,” said Nell crossly, startled 
by the sudden attack, “an’ nenny way 
you’ve bumped Jemina’s head, and waked 
up all the others. I should think, being 
a doll mother yourself, you’d know bet- 
ter ’n that;” and although Eliza now rep- 
resented both Dr. and Mrs. Smith with a 
touch of Miss Ramsay to strengthen the 
effect, Nell was too busy with her crying 
dolls to notice. 

“I believe,” said Aline, turning to Wil- 
lis with silent laughter, “that Eliza will be 
a genuine idealist when she grows up.” 

“It isn’t her present tendency to ideal- 
ism that worries me,” said Willis, the 
practical, “so much as the question of 
who’s going to spank it out of her.” 

46 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


“Why is that necessary?” asked Aline, 
biting off a thread. 

“Because,” said Willis, who was a 
thinker, “of all people, your idealist is 
the most selfish. All his energy and ef- 
fort are spent in trimming himself to a 
certain pattern, without a thought of 
what is to become of the rest of the 
world.” 

Aline was inclined to question this ut- 
ter condemnation of a trait she much ad- 
mired, and in the interest of their argu- 
ment they did not notice that Eliza, who 
did not care much for dolls, had left Nell 
to rock her children back to sleep, and had 
stationed herself behind them with a 
book. 

The argument ceased, unsettled, and 
Willis, intent on his volume, was called 
from the thrall of its pages by a small 
voice. 

“Please, Willis, will you ’splain to me 

47 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


what is S-p-o-n-t-a-n-e-o-u-s-C-o-m-b-u-s- 
t-i-o-n?” 

“Wha-a-t!” exclaimed Willis, looking 
up in amazement. “What does the child 
mean?” 

“It’s in this hook,” said Eliza meekly. 

Somehow she felt that her poses would 
not work with straightforward Willis. 
He took the volume somewhat impa- 
tiently, and found that his small sister 
was deep in the gruesome ending of 
Krook, the rum-soaked miser in “Bleak 
House.” With an exclamation he re- 
turned the book to its place on the shelf. 

“Hereafter, youngster,” he said decis- 
ively, “you leave grown-up books alone 
and stick to your Mother Goose.” 

“Mother Goose!” exclaimed Eliza 
scornfully. “I haven’t read her for years 
and years and ye-e-e-ears.” 

“Oh, ’Liza!” exclaimed Nell, hearing a 
familiar and well-beloved name, “let’s do 
48 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


play Mother Goose. The sun is shining 
now, and the puppy would make a beauti- 
ful pig, if you pinched his tail, and we 
could have ‘Tom the Piper’s son’ just as 
easy.” 

Grown-up books were quickly forgot- 
ten with this alluring prospect beckoning. 
Hasty preparations went forward in the 
hall, and then a wild posse whirled down 
the drive, — Nell, as Tom, with the pseudo 
pig barking wildly under her arm, the 
old dog and Eliza noisily pursuing. 

“I think,” said Willis drily, as the 
noise died away in the distance, “if quiet 
and decorum are the dangerous symp- 
toms, we’ll have our little twins with us 
for some time to come.” 

Aline was unusually busy this sum- 
mer, as her mother was at all times; and 
Willis’s jest served to stop her from 
worrying about the health of her small 
sisters. She noted that although they 
49 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


seemed to choose quieter games, they dis- 
puted over them even more noisily than 
ever. 

One night, however, things came to a 
crisis. After superintending a bed-time 
hour of more than usual uproariousness, 
Mrs. Bailey came downstairs looking 
spent and worried. 

“What in the world is the matter, 
Mother?” asked Aline, as the usual series 
of benedictions — “Good-night,” “Sweet 
repose,” “Half the bed,” “An’ all the 
clothes,” — did not float down after her. 

Instead came a sound of subdued wails. 

“I hardly know,” said Mrs. Bailey, 
looking about vaguely, as if to read the 
answer to her perplexity on chair or ta- 
ble. “Nell is screaming for a blanket, 
and Eliza is crying because she is too 
warm to stand one.” 

“I’ll warrant Eliza did not find she was 
too warm, till after Nell asked for the 
50 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


blanket,” hazarded Willis drily, for he 
did not share Aline’s veiled preference for 
the quieter twin. 

“I don’t know that she did. I can’t re- 
member,” returned his mother, “but it is 
a warm evening. Nell can’t take any 
harm for a little while, and I said I would 
come back in five minutes, and if she was 
still cold, I would cover her.” 

“I-I- wa-ant a bla-a-a-anket,” 
wailed a voice from the top of the stairs, 
while another more distant screamed, 
“Ma-a, don’t let her, I’m so-o wa-a-arm!” 

“I’m-m so-o co-o-ld!” mourned the first 
voice, while the second moaned: 

“I’m-m so wa-a-arm.” 

“Mercy! It sounds like a pair of ban- 
shees!” exclaimed Aline, springing to her 
feet. “Let me go, Mother; you’re tired. 
I can quiet them.” 

Whatever energetic means Aline had 
meant to employ in quelling the riot of 
51 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


sound, she laid aside the plan at sight of 
little Nell, blue and shivering, at the head 
of the stairs. Plainly enough the child 
was having a real chill, and after a hasty 
consultation it was decided that she should 
be put in Eleanor’s little white bed next 
to Aline, and that Eleanor should be put 
in with Eliza. 

Used to being thus cast into the breach, 
the “middle sister” made no complaint, 
but merely remarked, “ ’Tisn’t as bad as 
if I had to sleep between them,” which it 
certainly was not. 

But Eliza’s warmth grew and grew and 
grew, until by morning she, too, was 
moved into a white bed in the South cham- 
ber, and the doctor, who had been sent 
for, decided that the twins were coming 
down with the measles. 

“And they’ll have them pretty hard, 
too, Mrs. Bailey, if I’m not mistaken,” he 
said, looking down at the fever-flushed 
52 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


little faces. “They’re both high-strung, 
nervous children, and it looks to me as if 
they had taken cold. Better get them 
into a warm room and be ready for some 
careful nursing.” 

With this end in view the two little beds 
were moved into the spare bedroom down- 
stairs, and with Aline as chief nurse, the 
struggle with this sometimes troublesome 
disease was undertaken. 

The week which followed was a long, 
long one to every one in the household. 
It was quiet enough for Willis to read his 
very deepest books at any time he chose, 
but what interest had they while from the 
closed door of that darkened room came 
constant moans of weariness and pain? 
Fred and Herbert could drive the colts 
whenever they wished, and lay down their 
tools as they wanted to without a thought 
of little meddling fingers, but they did not 
enjoy this liberty; and never did the colts 
53 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


have so little use, and never were tools 
so lightly prized. As for Eleanor and 
Aleck, the sometimes resentful “middle 
ones,” who had often complained of the 
privileges they must yield to those 
younger, how gladly would they have 
given up these privileges and every other 
advantage just to hear the little teasing 
voices once again! 

For the twins were very sick. Day and 
night little Eliza’s restless head sought 
upon the pillow the ease it could not find, 
and she kept saying constantly, 

“Oh, Mother! Oh, Sister Aline! I 
am so very tired!” 

Meanwhile Nell, except for an occa- 
sional moan, lay silent and unconscious. 
But Aline watched by day, and Father 
and Mother by night, with unremitting 
care; the doctor was wise and skillful; and, 
above all, God was good; and when the 
disease had run its course, the little suf- 
54 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


ferers by slow degrees gathered strength 
to sit up and eat the dainty lunches that 
were lovingly prepared for them, and 
then they began to be themselves again. 

“Oh, Nell, I was so tired, you just 
can’t think!” said Eliza, when with their 
toys spread before them on the counter- 
pane, they began to play once more. 

“But I was worser,” said Nell with 
proud distinction. “I was nun-conk- 
shus.” 

“Humph!” said Eliza with Miss Por- 
ter’s acid, three-cornered smile. “That’s 
just not knowing anything. I wouldn’t 
be so niggerant.” 

Nell was crushed but not subdued. 

“Let’s play ‘Babes in the Woods,’ ” she 
said. “Our dolls will do for the children. 
We can have the bed-posts for the forest 
and Aline will pick us some evergreen for 
leaves, an’ o-o-oh!” For just then Aleck 
came in to delight their eyes with the shiny 
55 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


sleekness of his tame gobbler. “There’s 
the robin! Aleck, you will let him be our 
robin for ‘Babes in the Woods/ won’t 
you?” 

And Aleck, unable to deny the little in- 
valids, left the “robin,” while Aline for 
the same reason, endured the presence of 
the preposterous fowl on the foot of the 
bed — since he quite refused to take any 
active part in the rescue of the “Babes” 
— where he sat and gobbled at intervals, 
until the increasing drowsiness of the lit- 
tle convalescents reconciled them to part- 
ing with this unusual room-mate. 

As the same spirit of indulgence was 
shared by the rest of the household, it was 
not strange that when finally released 
from the limitations of their short conva- 
lescence, the small sisters felt that the 
world was theirs to command. It was 
with the sense of their new freedom strong 
upon them that they invaded the forbid- 
56 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


den precincts of the laundry, set out the 
clothes-pins in orderly array around the 
edge of their sand-pile for a circular 
hedge, and sank a tub in its center for a 
lake. 

“This would make a lovely boat down 
at the stream,” said Eliza, looking long- 
ingly at the big clothes-basket, “and the 
sticks could be oars.” 

“There wouldn’t be time,” objected 
Nell, as they heard the sound of the sup- 
per bell, “and to-morrow Mrs. Cloonan 
comes, and she won’t let us.” 

“She’d have to, if Ma said so,” returned 
Eliza firmly, “ ’cause we’ve been sick, and 
when children have had measles, they 
should have every single thing they want, 
else they might prolapse.” 

But the next day Mrs. Cloonan held 
widely differing views of the rights even 
of “measly” twins. She was the best and, 
in fact, the only efficient laundress in the 
57 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


vicinity, and as such she reigned queen of 
the wash-room, its environment, and all 
its appurtenances, on her appointed day. 
On that occasion the boys timed their 
trips to the cistern judiciously, and even 
Mrs. Bailey made any necessary excur- 
sions across the back porch at wide and 
considerate intervals. 

When this autocrat, therefore, discov- 
ered that her precinct had been invaded 
and its furnishings pilfered, her outraged 
feelings can much better be imagined than 
described. 

“ Is ut by yer wush, mum,” she began 
with great dignity, appearing in the 
kitchen to Mrs. Bailey’s great surprise, 
“thot me clo-othes-pins wuz stook in the 
sa-and-poile fer finces, an’ me clo-thes 
basket be tuck to th’ shtrame fer a shtamer, 
to sa-ay nothin’ av the misuse ov me toob 
an’ me wash-h-shticks?” 

“Why, no, Mrs. Cloonan,” said Mrs. 

58 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


Bailey, hastily wiping her hands and hur- 
rying to the laundry, “I’ll see about it 
right away.” 

“I’ve saw ” affirmed Mrs. Cloonan, 
wiping out the misused clothes-basket, 
and turning a stern eye upon the twins, 
who, subdued and panting with zeal, ap- 
peared in the doorway with the missing 
clothes-pins and wash-sticks. 

“Of course it’s the twins. They’ve 
been sick, you know, and I’m afraid we’ve 
spoiled them,” explained Mrs. Bailey, re- 
lieved that the missing articles had been 
restored. 

“Well, since they’ve ma-ade ristitootion, 
we’ll sa-ay no mo-ore,” said Mrs. Cloo- 
nan, still bending a stern frown on the cul- 
prits, adding as they stole meekly away, 
“But if ye’ll take ut fr-r-om me whut’s 
washed ther clo-othes iver since they’ve 
wo-oer thim, it’s mo-ore than measuls at’s 
ailing yer twins. The manners uv ’em, I 
59 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


mane,” as Mrs. Bailey looked up anx- 
iously. “It’s the new ways uv eddication 
an’ the loike. Shuttin’ oop childers alo- 
one wid ther sins is wan av thim. It’s a 
noice, lady-loike poonishmint thot doosn’t 
mooss th’ aper-rn, ner shtir oop yer fal- 
in’s, boot thot it’s anny cure fer wr-rong 
doin’, is a shnare an’ a delooshun av th’ 
Evil Wan who invinted ut, kno-owin’ thot 
wan sin br-rooded over will hatch sivin 
wor-rse wans.” 

Mrs. Cloonan was now well embarked 
on the delayed tide of her day’s work, and 
the thud of her hands on the board seemed 
to prevent reply, though it in no way 
stemmed the flow of her eloquence. 

“ ‘Short an’ shwate’ is me motto fer 
poonishment. Soon over, an’ thin fer- 
give an’ fergit. ‘Don’t shpa-are the shlip- 
per,’ says Solomon, the wise king, an’ ut’s 
as thrue as iver to-da-ay. Ta-ake thot 
fr-rum Ellen Cloonan, who knows moor-re 
60 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 

about the r-raisin’ uv childers than most — 
she thot’s berried sivin.” 

Mrs. Cloonan paused to dump a hot 
boiler of clothes into the tub, behind which 
she stood, a red-faced oracle, wreathed in 
an aureole of steam. 

“Av coor-rse havin’ twins,” she contin- 
ued, “it’s sum har-rder to alwa-ays be 
shure uv th’ sinner, but be joodgematic. 
Her thot r-runs to ye cr-ryin’ loike a 
hur-rt lamb to its ma, ain’t anny moor-re 
apt to be wr-rong than the wan thot 
cooms calm an’ pr-roper, only too willin’ 
to confess the sins av — soomboddy else.” 

Mrs. Cloonan paused abruptly, finding 
herself alone, since Mrs. Bailey had gone 
back to the kitchen, where work pressed. 
But she went thoughtfully, for the plain- 
spoken Irishwoman had touched on a 
doubt concerning the apportionment of 
blame which had lingered a long while in 
the background of her thoughts. Agita- 
61 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


tion was not always a sign of guilt, nor 
was calm assurance a proof of innocence. 
Either might be a matter of temperament. 
But it surely was time that even-handed 
justice arose, and taking from the shoul- 
ders of the more precocious twin the brief 
authority she had usurped, restore to her 
a free and unfettered childhood. 

The day wore on, and Mrs. Cloonan, 
having cleared away her work, took her 
departure with a somewhat apologetic air, 
as if afraid she had overstepped her 
bounds. Mrs. Bailey had finished her 
duties in the kitchen and had gone into the 
sewing room for a brief rest before the 
supper preparations began. Outside the 
children were playing, fussing, and squab- 
bling. 

“Now, ’Liza, you sha’n’t! That’s 
mine. I’ll tell Ma!” wailed Nell. 

“And I’ll tell Ma,” said Eliza’s calm 
62 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


voice, “that you’re too selfish to play 
nicely.” 

“ ’Tisn’t so,” said Nell, “but ’Liza, I do 
want that ribbon. Aline gave it to me. 
Ma-a!” 

“Run away, children,” said Aline with 
a glance at her mother’s clouded face. 

Mrs. Bailey was meditating a stroke of 
diplomacy which has often brought about 
the downfall of tyranny and changed the 
fate of nations. She was about to place 
the shoe upon the other foot, — a simple 
expedient which had many times drawn 
harmony out of chaos, and which brought 
peace to the troubled house of Bailey for 
weeks to come. 

The twins, leaving the shelter of the 
veranda, now wandered ofi 7 to seek a 
wider field of amusement and their elders 
were for a time relieved from the sound of 
their small squabbles. A little later from 
63 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

the near distance arose the sound of a fa- 
miliar plaint: 

“Ma-a-a, may she? Ma-a-a, I said 
first!” 

“Oh, Mother,” said Eliza elegantly, 
emerging from the cedar row, — Eliza oc- 
casionally impersonated Aline now, and 
this was her best effort, — “Please may I 
have the peonies, two big red ones, to 
carry to Miss Cates to-morrow?” 

“Oh, Ma-a-a-a!” screamed Nell, pant- 
ing at her heels. “I said first. Shall she 
have everything? Ma-a-a!” 

“I asked first,” said Miss Ramsay, alias 
Eliza, in the calm of assured victory, 
which twelve hours before would certainly 
have been hers. 

“Eliza,” said Mrs. Bailey, and there 
was a new note in her voice at which Miss 
Ramsay promptly dissolved into plain 
Eliza, “haven’t I often told you not to 
run in ahead of Nell in this way?” 

64 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


“Yes’m,” said Eliza, surprised, but 
truthful. 

“And you remembered that it was for- 
bidden, but did it just the same?” Mrs. 
Bailey’s voice was firm, but not angry, 
and Eliza took courage. 

“Yes’m,” she said calmly, “but these 
were the first blooms, and I am the best 
twin, and I thought you wouldn’t care.” 

“Then, Eliza,” said Mrs. Bailey, and 
her voice somehow reminded Eliza of the 
calm when the wind whispers in the 
branches before the coming storm, “you 
may come with me.” 

This was a new departure, which made 
Eliza feel, if she could have worded it so, 
that the stars were out of their courses, 
and the world was out of joint. For 
Eliza to be the one to follow Mother into 
that secret conclave behind closed doors! 
That was wont to be Nell’s part. But 
Eliza was not any more reticent than her 
65 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

twin concerning the danger which threat- 
ened. 

“Ma-a-a-a!” she wailed, “I’m not like 
Nell. She’s used to ‘punishes’ and ‘being 
displeased with’; but me, I’m different. 
Mu-u-ther! Motho-o-r!” remembering 
the elegance of her diction even in this mo- 
ment of excitement and danger, “you 
might hurt me. Remember, Mother, I’m 
a twin, and twins are so un-u-su-al. You 
wouldn’t want to break your set, would 
you? Ma-a-a!” 

But these excited protests only lent a 
vocal accompaniment to a background of 
certain measured sounds. After a mo- 
ment both noises ceased, and Eliza 
emerged from the secret chamber tearful 
and subdued, with the meekness of the 
martyr who enjoys his crown. 

Nell, not less tearful, waited outside in 
the hall. 

“Come an’ le’s play nicer,” she said, 
66 


A MATTER OF DISCIPLINE 


thrusting into her twin’s tear-dampened 
hand the remnant of a sugar dog treasured 
since the preceding Christmas. “Le’s 
play ‘Red Riding Hood’ an’ her Grand- 
mother an’ the Wolf. You can be ‘Red 
Riding Hood.’ ” 

“I can’t play ‘Red Riding Hood/ ” 
said Eliza in a meek, suffering voice. “I 
don’t feel able. But we might play tab- 
leaux, and,” with a reproachful look at 
her mother, “I’ll be a Christian martyr 
forgiving his nenemies.” 


67 


CHAPTER III 

SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 

O F all the mornings of the week the 
twins loved Sunday the best. 
Nell liked it for its pile of spot- 
lessly white clothes on the chair by the 
bedside and the “all nice” things to wear, 
from the best shoes and stockings to the 
nicest frilly underwaist ; last week’s after- 
noon dresses were slipped on until after 
breakfast for fear of accidents to the real 
“Sunday” dresses. Eliza loved it for its 
sense of limitless leisure, — the unbounded 
opportunity to meditate over her stock- 
ings and deliberate over her shoes, with 
Eleanor downstairs dressing Baby Edgar, 
and Aline helping Mother with break- 
fast, and no one at hand to suggest the 
need of action or vulgar haste. 

68 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


“I b’lieve I’ll wear my white dress to- 
day, the one with the tucks on,” she con- 
sidered aloud, drawing her stocking up 
to its full, long length, and puckering her 
brow as if weighing the merits of an end- 
less array of toilets. 

“Ma won’t let you,” said Nell, trying 
to tie one shoe while she stood on the other 
foot before the open window watching 
the progress of a mud-swallow’s nest out 
under the overhanging eaves. “I b’lieve 
we’re going to wear our new diamond cal- 
icoes, ’cause I saw Aline sewing the but- 
tons on just when we were coming to bed 
last night.” 

Eliza pictured to herself the glories of 
the “diamond calicoes,” so called from a 
spattering of tiny black and red diamonds 
over a white ground. 

“Mine has red trimmings on the pock- 
ets, up and down, like this,” pursued Nell, 
sitting down on the floor to put on her 
69 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


second shoe, and illustrating her words 
with the string on the white surface of 
her gown. 

“Mine are crossways like this,” re- 
turned Eliza with an equally adaptable 
shoe-string. 

“Eleanor’s are nicer. I can’t just 
show them,” said Nell, beginning to 
apply her shoestring to its proper use. 

But the discussion of this and equally 
important topics took time, so that when 
breakfast was all ready and the rest of the 
family waiting, and Aline came to hurry 
the twins to their places, she found them 
only midway between their “nighties” and 
their frilly white under waists. 

“What do you children mean by sitting 
around in this state of nakedness?” she de- 
manded, beginning to button and tie in 
indignant haste. 

“ ’Tisn’t a state, it’s a territory,” ex- 

70 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


claimed Nell, giggling at her own small 
wit. 

But Eliza began to argue. 

“How can nakedness be a state, Aline?” 
she said. “It hasn’t any capital, and you 
can’t bound it.” 

Here her head was smothered, as the 
folds of her small dress were pulled down 
over it, and not allowing a pause for fur- 
ther geographical discussion, Aline hus- 
tled the small laggards down to the din- 
ing room, where even Baby Edgar was 
gurgling his impatience at their delay. 

A chapter from the Bible with verses 
read in turn — even the twins taking a la- 
borious part — and then a short prayer 
formed the morning devotions in the 
Bailey household, and for this exercise the 
presence of every member of the family 
was required. As soon as this was over, 
the waiting breakfast was served, and the 
71 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


business of the morning meal proceeded. 
There were no dull meals at the Baileys’. 
Just now it was the boys’ delight to tease 
Eliza, who had taken a dislike to milk in 
all its combinations, and was so vigorous 
in her expression of her distaste that she 
kept the subject constantly before her 
fun-loving brothers. 

“Millik, milliak?” inquired Fred, mak- 
ing a feint of filling her mug from the big 
pitcher. 

“Have some milk,” said Aleck, trying 
to pour some on her porridge. 

“Ma-a, must they?” cried Eliza, en- 
larging her borders by squaring her small 
arms, and defending her frontiers with 
outspread fingers. “Shall they spoil my 
breakfast?” 

And although the two boys, in answer 
to an admonishing glance from Mother, 
refrained from further teasing, apprehen- 
sion had seized the small twin, and fear 
72 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


was her master. From then on, as she 
industriously spooned her oatmeal, each 
morsel was subjected to a careful scru- 
tiny to make sure that no drop of milk 
had contaminated its surface. This con- 
stant vigilance so prolonged her bowl of 
porridge that by the time she had absorbed 
the last sugary crumb, the older folk had 
all finished breakfast, and Nell, having 
just emerged panting from behind her 
mug of milk, was observing Eliza with an 
expression of calm disapproval. 

“You look at your food so hard, just 
like a mother chicken hunting dinner,” she 
remarked critically. 

“I don’t care ’f I do!” retorted Eliza, 
ruffling, “if the boys teased you all the 
time the way they do me, you’d look like 
two mother chickens hunting dinner.” 

But before these two ornithological 
statements could be thrashed out and es- 
tablished, the Sunday-school students 
73 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


were dismissed to get themselves ready 
for an early start. There were but four 
of them, — the twins, Eleanor, and Aleck. 
On bright days, as on the present occa- 
sion, they walked up to the church, 
Eleanor and Aleck, who were in advanced 
classes, usually walking ahead, while the 
two smaller ones, who were just mere 
“catechists,” followed leisurely by them- 
selves. 

This morning, hawser, when the three 
girls in the new “diamond” dresses gath- 
ered at the lower front entrance, Aleck 
was not there. He had gone on, Willis 
said, and quite sure that this was because 
it was growing late, the three girls hur- 
ried after him down the drive and out 
upon the long dusty road. 

“I’m so afraid we’ll be late,” said 
Eleanor, looking impatiently at the lag- 
ging footsteps of her smaller sister s. 

74 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


‘Til hurry on, girls. It doesn’t matter 
so much about you.” 

“I’ll hurry, too,” said Eliza, sprinting 
along beside her taller sister. 

“An’ I’ll hurry,” gasped Nell. 

But poor Nell was the more rotund of 
the twins, less compact and muscular than 
Eliza, and although she puffed and per- 
spired as she labored along after the oth- 
ers, she was rapidly falling far into the 
rear. 

“Oh, girls,” she begged, “do wait! 
Please, ’Liza. Please, El’nor. O-oh, 
Ma-a-a, must they!” 

For the swift pace of the others had 
broken into a run, and they rapidly dis- 
appeared from sight round a bend in the 
road. 

Pleading and crying, Nell ran, too, 
reached the bend, and then looked back- 
ward and forward. The girls had gone, 
75 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


and on all the long yellow* road in each di- 
rection as far as she could see, there was 
no other person. The poor, hot, tired 
little twin was quite alone. 

“Oh, Mama! Oh, Aline!” she sobbed 
softly, too frightened to cry aloud. 

For to tell the whole truth, which even 
Eliza, her own twin, did not suspect, Nell 
was a coward. Accustomed though she 
had been from babyhood to wander 
through the woods and groves near home, 
she had never looked out into the forest 
without thinking that some day one of 
those black stumps or fallen logs might 
get up and prove to be a bear. She never 
heard a busy rustling in the brush or 
leaves, — which so often proved to be 
Rover or some friendly cow, — without a 
frightened catching of the breath and a 
flutter of the heart, lest it might turn out 
to be a wolf such as met Red Riding 
Hood. 


76 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


There was a rustling in the brush now, 
right beside her. Could it, oh, could it be 
the wolf ! It was coming nearer. 

“Oh, Mama! Aline!” she screamed 
aloud. 

The hazel bushes were being pushed 
aside, and out came not a wolf, but Aleck, 
beautiful in his new blue necktie, his ivory 
toothpick fast between his teeth. Of the 
two, perhaps, he was the more surprised 
at this meeting; as he did not expect to 
find his little sister alone on the dusty 
highway. 

“What’s the matter, kiddo?” he asked 
in his slow, kind way. 

“The girls r-ran-n an’ 1-left-t m-me,” 
gulped Nell, a little ashamed of her terror 
now that rescue had come. 

Aleck stood quite still for a moment, 
looking ahead intently at the bushes be- 
side the road. It may be that he saw be- 
hind one of them a flutter of diamond cal- 
77 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ico. That may have been why he sud- 
denly said in quite a loud voice, “A mean 
trick !” And then extending a gracious 
forefinger, at which tired, grateful Nell 
clutched as a drowning man might grasp 
a straw, he went forward on his way to 
Sunday-school. 

Just around the next bend of the road 
they came upon Eleanor and Eliza stand- 
ing quietly. 

“We were just waiting for you,” they 
said a little uncertainly. 

“You needn’t,” replied Aleck coldly, 
not withdrawing the helpful forefinger. 
“Nell is coming with me.” 

And now it was the other girls’ turn to 
follow meekly behind, for Aleck took his 
little sister quite up to the entrance of the 
lower Sunday-school room, showing her 
into the door as if she were a grown-up 
lady, before going off to his own class. 

They were just in time, and, a little con- 
78 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


scious of the beauty of their new dresses, 
the twins made their way into their own, 
the “middle” class. Long ago, when 
quite small, they had been in the “N” or 
“M” class, and learned their lessons by 
reciting the answers in concert with the 
teacher, until they could say “My Spon- 
sors in Baptism” and “Yes, Verily,” even 
in the dark. Now they were in the “Com- 
mandment” class, and had to study their 
lessons at home. Every Sunday they 
could say a little more, and finally when 
one could say every one of the command- 
ments without stopping and without a 
mistake, she was given a little Prayer 
Book of her very own. Eliza could do 
this, and had carried her book proudly for 
several weeks, but Nell had not yet earned 
hers. Something always happened to 
put her out in her attempt to say them. 

A Prayer Book was a coveted distinc- 
tion, for next Advent those who had them 
79 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


would be put into the “Duty” class, and 
after that they would go into the other 
room, where there were three classes that 
studied the Collects, Epistles, and Gos- 
pels. By this time one had grown very 
wise and old, and the next thing he was 
“ ’firmed,” which constituted graduation 
from the Sunday-school. 

To-day, which began so inauspiciously 
for Nell, proceeded happily, for she said 
all her Commandments perfectly; and, 
being asked to wait a moment with the 
teacher, presently hurried after Eliza to 
show a neat, new Prayer Book of her 
own. 

“Humph!” said Eliza, pursing her lips, 
“I’ve had mine ever and ever so long.” 

“That’s why I like mine better,” de- 
fended Nell stoutly, “ ’cause it’s new. 
Yours is getting some spotty,” indicating 
a little place under Eliza’s moist thumb. 

80 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


Eliza gazed at it anxiously, wondering 
whether or not she might remove it with 
an application of her small red tongue. 
Just then the doors into the chapel were 
opened, and the children poured in, each 
one hurrying with prim and squeaky shoes 
to the parent pew. 

How the twins did love this little 
dark old-fashioned chapel! They were 
never tired of studying its narrow dia- 
mond-paned windows of stained glass, 
so overgrown on the outside with ivy 
and trumpet-creeper that on all but the 
brightest Sundays, reading was diffi- 
cult in the shady corners. The quaint 
old chancel was a delight to older eyes 
than those of the twins, with its long 
dull-black railing, at the corners of 
which stood two old-fashioned pulpits 
that could be entered only from the back. 
They also enjoyed the great stained win- 
81 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


dow directly back of the chancel and the 
dark-blue ceiling above, spotted all over 
with shiny gilt stars. 

“Just like the starry heavens,” ex- 
plained Eliza to Nell as they looked at it 
to-day, for she had heard Miss Cates say 
that to a sightseer. 

The twins had been trained in church- 
going from their infancy, and there was 
no portion of the service in which they 
did not take an interested part, crooning 
softly through the Psalms and hymns, and 
following the Psalter with a gentle “m- 
m-m-m” of sound when the reading was 
too difficult or too fast for them. Even 
the sermon held much for them to enjoy, 
though one would hardly have thought 
this, since Dr. Smith was of the old school, 
and very old at that; but here, too, the 
twins were loyal to their own. 

“I don’t believe that even Emporia has 
82 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


any minister who can hit the pulpit and 
holler like Dr. Smith,” said Eliza admir- 
ingly to Willis. 

And Willis, who, full of young 
thoughts and new ideas, found the old 
minister somewhat prosy, admitted drily 
that this was probably the case. 

To-day as they settled back for the ser- 
mon, Nell arranged herself in a comfort- 
able place against Mother’s arm, where, 
when the pulpit thumping became monot- 
onous, and the good doctor had soared 
quite beyond the limits of her comprehen- 
sion, she could indulge in the little nap 
which Eliza found so reprehensible. 
Eliza, however, sat upright, alert and 
awake to every peculiarity of pose or man- 
ner throughout the congregation. When 
Miss Cates leaned her head sideways, 
Eliza did the same; when Mrs. Smith 
cast up her eyes and sighed, the child fol- 
83 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

lowed her example; and when Mrs. Ellis 
dusted her nose with her handkerchief, the 
small mimic repeated the act. 

But the doctor was nearing the climax 
of his sermon, for which both the children 
watched and waited, and which they re- 
peated with varying gestures and inflec- 
tions throughout the week. 

“ Shall I say it?” he cried, his voice shak- 
ing with emotion. “Shall I say it?” al- 
most in tears. “I shall say it,” he sud- 
denly shouted, striking the pulpit a fear- 
ful blow, “I shall say it ! And the small- 
est among you will understand me when 
I say that the transcendentalism of the 
idiosyncrasies of the present generation 
requires it.” 

Eliza cast up her eyes with an ecstatic 
sigh. “The smallest among you.” That 
meant her, and also Nell, who sat sleeping 
like a little stupid, though she certainly 
looked very comfortable. It must be the 
84 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


colored windows which made one’s eyes 
feel so funny, Eliza thought; perhaps she 
had better close hers for a moment. She 
had scarcely done so, however, when the 
congregation got up to sing. And then 
right away church was over, and the peo- 
ple were coming out and saying, 

“How d’ye do?” 

“Such a fine sermon!” 

“Looks as if we might have rain.” 

Then they were all being packed in 
the surrey, except Mother and Willis, who 
went in the little phaeton ahead. 

“Such a very ’structive sermon,” said 
Eliza, folding her hands piously, and 
looking reprovingly at Nell who, with 
cheeks still flushed from her prolonged 
nap, sat hugging her little new Prayer 
Book sleepily. 

Aleck looked round mischievously. 

“Don’t believe you can tell us the end 
of it,” he challenged. 

85 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Course I can, too,” said Eliza haught- 
ily, “ ’f I’d stop to think, but I know it 
was ’structive, ’cause Mis’ Cooke said so.” 

“What was the end of it, Nell?” asked 
Aleck, smiling. 

And Nell, who forgot texts and slept 
through sermons, roused, and said dis- 
tinctly : 

“I am ’quested to announce that there 
will be a Strawberry Festible for the chil- 
dren of the Sunday-school at Mr. Mal- 
lory’s grove on July the Fourth, picnic 
dinner at twelve o’clock.” 

“For children, really, Aline?” de- 
manded Eliza, forgetting the ignominy of 
being caught napping in her delight at 
this joyous prospect. 

And when Aline had assured them that 
it was surely for the children, with the 
grown-ups only to help with the dinner 
and to care for the little ones, Eliza was 
too happy to grudge Nell her small tri- 
86 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


umph of having waked up just as the ser- 
mon ended so that she could tell this won- 
derful news. 

“ ’Cause I heard all the really ’structive 
part,” asserted Eliza piously, “so it does- 
n’t matter if I did close my eyes for a few 
minutes when it was just pleasure;” and 
her pose would have done credit to a “Fra 
Angelica.” 

“Call snoring like a grampus for a half 
an hour just closing your eyes, huh?” 
teased Fred, with a sly wink at Aleck. 

“Never neither!” cried Eliza, ruffling 
like a cross pigeon. “Did I, Aline?” 

But before Aline could come to the res- 
cue of Eliza’s wounded dignity, they had 
rounded the curve to the front door of 
their home. The twins scrambled out of 
the surrey, and hurried into the house to 
get Mother to verify the glad tidings of 
a “really and truly” festival for the chil- 
dren on the Fourth of July. Having all 
87 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


doubts on this score doubly settled, they 
clambered upstairs to have their big 
aprons put on so that the new dresses 
might retain some semblance of cleanli- 
ness, at least until sunset. 

“I wish it was Fourth of July to-mor- 
row,” said Eliza, squirming away as soon 
as the last button was finished. 

“I guess Ma and Aline don’t,” said 
Nell, who was about as easy to fasten up 
as an energetic eel, “ ’cause we got to have 
clean clothes an’ dinners an’ everything.” 

“Then I s’pose we’ll have to work,” said 
Eliza with a deep sigh, as they hurried 
downstairs in answer to the dinner bell. 

Although Sunday afternoon was not as 
eventful as the morning, it still had many 
charms. For one thing, the boys were at 
home, and with the grown-up folk all to- 
gether there was endless opportunity for 
eavesdropping, which, though the conver- 
sation was vague, and brought little that 
88 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 

was stirring or sensational, as the Baileys 
did not gossip, was still interesting. Then 
there was always a possibility of captur- 
ing some person detached from the gen- 
eral group, and securing a story by way 
of ransom. Sometimes there was a walk 
in the yard with some one to see the flow- 
ers, or a tour of inspection through the 
big vegetable garden beyond the bam. 
Of one delightful treat they were always 
sure, and that was the privilege of going 
with Aleck for the cows; and as this lover 
of birds and nature was never in a hurry, 
the walk was a joy which might prolong 
itself into indefinite side-trips to see birds’- 
nests and visit bee-trees, until the cows 
fairly bellowed to be taken home and 
milked. 

On this particular Sunday after all 
these joys had been partaken of, as well 
as the light early supper, the twins came 
out on the west porch, where the setting 
89 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


sun proclaimed the beginning of the pleas- 
ant long twilight, and found Herbert in 
his best clothes carefully strapping the 
saddle on Polly’s back. 

“Oh, Herbert, please give me a ride,” 
begged Eliza, fearlessly hungry for ad- 
venture, “just a little, teenty one.” 

“Just to the gate then,” said Herbert, 
with unexpected good humor, lifting her 
to the stirrup. 

Eliza with mighty struggles scrambled 
upward, finally gaining a seat in the sad- 
dle, but, unfortunately, facing the wrong 
way. 

“Come on, Sis,” said Herbert, reaching 
for Nell, who hastily ran back on the 
porch, being as timid with horses as Eliza 
was venturesome. 

“Le’s not wait for her, she’s ’fraid,” 
called the small equestrian from the heav- 
ing heights of Polly’s roan back, where 
she overlooked that animal’s short and 
90 


SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


skimpy tail. “But Herbert, how’ll I do? 
Must I back her all the way to the gate?” 

Herbert relieved Polly from the neces- 
sity of this inconvenient mode of locomo- 
tion by turning the small rider face for- 
ward, and Eliza experienced the fearful 
joy of a “jiggledy-joggledy” ride on Pol- 
ly’s back to the front gate. 

“Oh, Herbert!” she then begged, “let 
me go farther. Take me all the way. 
Just this once.” 

“Not much!” laughed Herbert, setting 
the small youngster on the ground, and 
springing lightly to the saddle. “I don’t 
need anybody to help me fly my kite now, 
thank you. I can manage it all right 
alone.” 

“What kite, Herbert?” called Eliza 
after him. “Where do you fly it?” 

But Polly’s brisk canter carried him 
quickly beyond the reach of her voice, and 
she plodded slowly back to the front door 
91 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


pondering on the mystery of Herbert’s 
Sunday evening’s game. 

Left alone, Nell had wandered round to 
the side door where Fred was giving an 
extra polish to an already brilliant pair of 
shoes. Fred was in his Sunday best, too, 
and like Herbert, showed every indica- 
tion of an intended jaunt. 

“Why don’t you go horseback like Her- 
bert?” she began inquisitively. “Won’t 
anybody let you have a horse?” 

“Sure thing!” said Fred jovially, be- 
ginning on his second shoe. “The horse 
I take is Shank’s mare. She’s always 
ready, saddled and bridled, whenever I 
want to start.” 

Nell looked puzzled and interested. 

“Which one is that?” she said, consid- 
ering. “I don’t ’member any but Polly 
an’ Jim an’ Bill an’ Jerry an’ Betsy an’ 
Fan. We haven’t any other.” 

“That’s all you know about it,” re- 
92 



A “ JIGGLEDY-JOGGLEDY ” RIDE. — Page 91 





SUNDAY CONTEMPLATIONS 


turned Fred, putting down his foot and 
shaking himself carefully to settle his gar- 
ments into place. “We use Shank’s 
mare more than all the others. Just ask 
any one you know.” 

And Fred took his departure as ab- 
ruptly as Herbert had done, leaving the 
twins to each other’s society, face to face 
with these two unsuspected mysteries. 

“Some nonsense of the boys,” was all 
Mother said when they asked her, for 
there was company in the parlor, and she 
could spare time only to unbutton the lit- 
tle girls and send them upstairs to help 
each other to bed. 

Still puzzled, they climbed the stairs, 
and even the delightful thought of the 
coming Festival was almost lost sight of 
in their bewilderment over these strange 
new problems. Where and why did Her- 
bert fly his kite on Sunday? And which 
horse was Shank’s mare? 

93 


CHAPTER IV 

THE LOST BABY 

E LIZA’S worst fears of work were 
realized, because, with an extra 
large ironing on hand and a lunch 
to be prepared, the next few days were 
all too short for the many duties to be per- 
formed. By Tuesday afternoon Eleanor 
had been drawn into the thick of the prep- 
arations, and her usual duty, the care of 
Baby Edgar, must fall to the unwilling 
twins. 

“Now be careful with little Brother,” 
said Mother, tying on Baby’s bonnet and 
placing him in his little go-cart. “Keep 
him in the yard, and don’t run away and 
leave him.” 

The little girls sighed heavily. The 
yard was large and shady. There were 
94 


THE LOST BABY 


times when it stretched away into a vast 
forest in which the “Babes in the Woods” 
must inevitably be lost, and in whose 
depths “Bo Peep’s” flock were promptly 
swallowed up. Up the heights of its slen- 
der hickory trees “Jack-the-Giant-Kill- 
er,” after many days of weary climbing, 
might readily find a giant’s house; and 
among the shrubs and flower beds in front 
of the house, “Beauty’s” father must 
surely have plucked the forbidden rose 
which brought him under the displeasure 
of the dreadful “Beast.” 

But to-day the yard was small and 
homely, while below the hill the ferns in 
the dell beckoned irresistibly with their 
tiny curling fingers, and the stream, mur- 
muring over its shiny pebbles, sang an al- 
luring siren’s song. 

“Oh, Ma, must we stay in the yard?” 
pleaded Nell. “Everything here is so 
common and every- day-y.” 

95 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Mayn’t we go down to the stream,” 
begged Eliza. “It’s so cool there, and 
we’ll be so careful.” 

“Oh, please, Ma!” cried Nell, chiming 
in again. “Just down to the ‘Beach,’ Ma. 
It’s so level and nice, and has so many 
pretty stones.” 

“Please, Ma!” begged Eliza. 

“Oh, please, Ma!” begged Nell again, 
until Mrs. Bailey, thinking that the 
“Beach” was the little pebbly flat below 
the hill, and not guessing it was what they 
had named the broad level where the brook 
joined the creek down near the pasture, 
said “Yes,” with many cautions about not 
leaving little Edgar, nor letting him get 
in the water, to all of which the twins con- 
sented with sincere eagerness. 

How wonderful it was to walk unat- 
tended along the stream, as it wound and 
zigzagged its way down between the two 
long hills! They would hardly have ex- 
96 


THE LOST BABY 


pected to be allowed to come so far alone, 
and now not only to come, but to bring 
Baby Edgar, who was really much more 
interesting than just a plain doll! Surely 
the Fates were good to them. 

To be sure, the brambles did come a lit- 
tle close to the stream in places. They 
had not noticed this when they came with 
Aleck. Perhaps he had gone ahead and 
drawn them aside, they couldn’t remem- 
ber: but to-day the brambles were quite 
too much for the small girls. It must 
have been that with Aleck they had 
crossed over and walked on the other side 
of the brook, where the bank was low and 
extended back to the opposite hill in a 
broad, level sweep. 

Here the stream was wide, but shallow, 
as its bright pebbly bottom showed. 
Nothing would be easier than to wheel the 
go-cart over to the other side. Of course 
when Aleck was there, he carried them 
97 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


across, but who minded a little water? 
Mama had said they could go to the 
“Beach,” and this was the only way to get 
there. So down the slope to the stream 
they started, Eliza ahead to guide and 
steady the cart, — for it was a little steep 
here, and Nell behind to hold it back and 
wheel. 

Now Nell said it would have been all 
right, if Eliza had only steadied as she 
should, and Eliza said it wouldn’t have 
happened, if Nell had held back. At any 
rate, the cart rolled quickly down a slope 
quite too steep to be safe for babies and 
small girls, struck a stone, and, tilting 
sideways, slid little Edgar right into the 
middle of the brook. 

Fortunately the cart was low and the 
water shallow, so that Baby was not in the 
least bit hurt. He gave just one fright- 
ened cry at the sudden surprise, and then 
98 



And Eliza said it wouldn’t have happened if Nell had held 

back .— Page 98. 






































. 












THE LOST BABY 


began to spat the water with his hands and 
to laugh and gurgle just as he did in his 
bath at home. Thankful that he did not 
cry, but horrified to think what might 
have been the consequences of such a 
dreadful accident, the twins, with many 
tugs and grunts, managed to get their fat 
little brother back on the grassy shore, 
where he at once set up a whimpering pro- 
test against this unwelcome change from 
a beloved and congenial element. 

“Gracious!” exclaimed Eliza, Miss 
Ramsay to the life. “That child hasn’t a 
dry stitch on him.” 

“Oh, ’Liza!” Nell gasped, “what will 
Mama say!” 

The twins looked at each other with dis- 
mayed, widening eyes of fright. Sure 
enough, what might Mother say, with the 
“Festible” only two days off! 

“First,” said Eliza, recovering herself 
99 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


in a handsome, grown-up way, “we’ve got 
to change every rag on him from the skin 
out.” 

Here again they stopped to stare at 
each other dejectedly, for where was the 
change? Up at the house, where they 
daren’t tell Mother. Anxiously they in- 
vestigated their own toilets, but there was 
not a scrap to spare. A hot day and ev- 
erything in the wash does not encourage 
extra furbelows, and because of the tem- 
perature the twins were content with the 
acme of simplicity. But again Eliza ar- 
rived at a prompt and important decision : 
“We’ve just got to take ’em all off to dry, 
an’ then dress him again,” she declared, 
with an air of great energy. 

“An’-an’ not tell Ma?” asked Nell, diz- 
zied with the magnitude of the crime con- 
templated. 

“Not till after the Festible,” returned 
Eliza decidedly, “ ’cause she’s busy, an’ 

100 


THE LOST BABY 


she might worry. By’m by after it’s all 
over, an’ she’s all rested, we might say 
some time, ‘Why, Ma, I don’t believe we 
told you, but Edgar got a little wet that 
day we had him, but we dried him off our- 
selves so’s not to bother you.’ ” 

While Eliza had been unfolding this 
daring scheme, her hands were busy un- 
buttoning, unpinning, and peeling off the 
moist and clinging garments which en- 
folded Edgar’s fat little person like the 
layers on a corpulent onion. And as soon 
as she comprehended that this meant 
safety and escape from the possible and 
probable punishment of staying home 
from the “Festible,” Nell was a zealous 
and eager helper in the task. Even Ed- 
gar, who, in his state of primal innocence, 
welcomed this return to the customs of 
distant Eden, lent a pair of pudgy hands; 
and when the ‘last stitch,” as Eliza ex- 
pressed it, was hung on a bramble bush to 
101 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


dry, he rolled himself about in the soft bed 
of clover and blue grass, clutching for his 
wiggling, pink toes, and gurgling his joy 
at this release from the fetters which man 
has been compelled to wear as a penalty 
for his first disobedience. 

It was a good drying day, and the chil- 
dren zealously tended and turned the tiny 
garments, pulling and smoothing mean- 
while to disguise the roughness of the 
dampened cloth. 

“They look kind of dirty, seems to me,” 
said Eliza, trying to smear off a muddy 
streak with very grimy fingers. “But 
then, Edgar always gets his clothes dirty, 
you know.” 

“I know he does, awful dirty!” assented 
Nell, who was attempting to lick a grass 
stain off the front of the little white dim- 
ity dress, “and when we get all these nice 
dry things back on him, he’ll look just as 
good as when we got him.” 

102 


THE LOST BABY 


There might have been two opinions 
about that, since the buttons were askew, 
the strings knotted, and there were dark 
and unusual streaks in unexpected places. 
The work of dressing him was more ardu- 
ous than they had expected, for Baby Ed- 
gar was no light weight, and he hindered 
all he could with gurgles and “goos” and 
jumps of delight at the unusual character 
of the afternoon’s entertainment. By 
the time he was dressed, however, he was 
growing sleepy; and when they had 
leaned him back in his little cart, and had 
drawn him into the shade of a large black- 
berry bush, his bright, dark eyes were shut 
fast, and Baby was off for his afternoon 
nap. 

After the strenuous activities of the 
past hour, this sudden quiet seemed tame 
and wearisome. 

“I suppose now we can’t go to the 
Beach,” said Nell, looking at her sleeping 

103 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


brother in a resigned fashion, “but we can 
play here. ’Nennyway, I’m tired.” 

“So’m I,” said Eliza, clambering up on 
a stump to take a look round. 

Now if Eliza had not taken this look, 
it is possible that the twins might have fin- 
ished out their playtime here by Edgar’s 
cart, and then taken him quietly home be- 
fore sundown; and all would have gone 
well. But the stump was high, and from 
its top Eliza could see completely over the 
surrounding sea of bramble-bushes and 
horse-weeds. 

“Why, Nell,” she announced excitedly, 
“we’re just there! The Beach is right 
on the other side of these weeds.” 

“It’s just like here,” said Nell, who was 
busy collecting pink pebbles from the rip- 
pling water. 

“Why, Nell Bailey!” said Eliza scorn- 
fully. “To say that, when it has all that 
wide, flat water an’ all those skippy stones ! 

104 


THE LOST BABY 


’Sides that, there’s a bird’s-nest in that 
gooseberry-bush. Aleck told me.” 

“We can’t leave Edgar,” said Nell, hes- 
itating. 

She did want some “skippy” stones. 
One could make them hop along over the 
water so prettily, and then the bird’s- 
nest — 

“Why can’t we?” argued Eliza vigor- 
ously. “It’s just past those weeds. 
Don’t we go that far from our Jemima 
and Eudora every day, and does anything 
hurt them?” 

“Edgar might wake up,” faltered Nell, 
for she really wanted to go. 

“Wake up!” sniffed Eliza, moving 
slowly along towards the high weeds be- 
yond which lay the much desired haven. 
“Guess you don’t know much about Ed- 
gar, if you don’t ’member how he sleeps 
nours and nours.” 

Eliza was wading through the weeds 
105 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


now, but Nell came after her with a rush, 
loth to leave Edgar, but more unwilling 
to be left behind. 

“Course we won’t stay but a minute,” 
said Eliza, as they passed the thicket of 
weeds — which extended farther than they 
realized — and came out upon the Beach, 
quite a field in itself. “Think I want to 
leave my little brother all alone by him- 
self for long?” 

But it took a good while to get down to 
the gooseberry-bush, and it was a long 
time before they were tired of peering at 
the wonders of the dear little nest in its 
shelter. They must not touch it, Aleck 
said, though they might look at it, if the 
mother bird was not at home. And it 
took so long to gather the flat “skippy” 
stones; they might want so many. 

It was while they were stooping for 
these that Eliza saw the sun under the 
veiy lowest branches of the trees, and 
106 


THE LOST BABY 


realized that it was getting near sundown, 
and that they, with Baby Edgar, were a 
long way from the safe home yard. 

“Quick, Nell,” she said, pointing to 
the lowering sun. 

And then without so much as a parting 
glance at the nest in the gooseberry-bush, 
whose owner was now at hand, uttering 
loud protesting chirps, they hurried down 
the length of the Beach, passed the long 
strip of weeds and brambles, which now 
seemed to reach out thorny, hindering fin- 
gers, and finally reached the open sweep 
of ground where they had left the little 
cart. There were the brambles on which 
they had hung the little wardrobe; there 
was the shallow water with its troublesome 
steep place where they had spilled the 
dear, good-natured little fellow; there 
was the ruffled, tumbled place in the grass 
where he had rolled and crowed while his 
clothes were drying. But nowhere, under 
107 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


bush or weed, or even in the high grass, 
where they searched anxiously and long, 
could they find a trace of little Edgar. 

“Bears!” gasped Nell with quivering 
lips. 

Eliza laughed scornfully, though her 
lips were none too firm. 

“Humph!” she retorted, “would bears 
take the cart, too?” 

“Wolves might,” suggested Nell some- 
what reassured. “They’re pretty smart: 
Red Riding Hood’s Wolf might have 
taken it.” 

“Well, he isn’t here!” said Eliza 
crossly, for she, too, was frightened. 
“We’ve just got the wrong place. It 
must have been further along.” 

And although Nell was sure it was the 
right place, and showed her the marks of 
the wheels and their foot-prints, they 
searched farther and farther down, until 
they came quite to the foot of their own 
108 


THE LOST BABY 


hill. By that time the sun had set, and 
the twilight was fading, but still they 
found no Edgar. 

“I tell you,” said Eliza stoutly, though 
her own heart was like lead within her, 
“we won’t say one word about it. Per- 
haps Ma won’t think of Edgar, if we 
don’t remind her, and first thing when 
we wake in the morning, we’ll run right 
out and get him. We’ve just missed the 
place somehow. That’s all. Now don’t 
cry, or Ma’ll ’spect something right away, 
and ask, ‘Where’s Edgar?’ ” 

Then, though it was very hard to do it 
with their hearts so full of anxiety and 
fright for little Brother, the twins stole 
up to the house, — a drooping, downcast 
little pair. Supper was just on the table, 
and Aline pounced upon them to clean 
them up, saying nothing as she looked 
sharply at their frightened little faces. 
It seemed as if every one looked hard at 
109 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


them when they came to the table, where, 
of course, Edgar was not expected, since 
he always went to bed early. But no one 
asked any questions, nor expressed any 
surprise that the twins were not hungry, 
although supper was already very late. 

“Tired, ” said Aline, looking intently at 
Mother, when the little girls turned away 
from their good bread and butter and 
fruit. 

Mother asked if they would like to go 
right up to bed. 

“Yes,” they answered eagerly, anxious 
to have the night over, so they might go 
out to search again for the bush beneath 
whose shelter they had placed the little 
cart. 

Mother did not talk much as she put 
the twins to bed, but they were too 
wretched to notice, too eager to be in bed 
and asleep so that daylight would come 

110 


THE LOST BABY 


sooner. And then Mother went away, 
and took the light, and they were left 
there to look at the dark and to think of 
little Brother out all alone in the bushes. 
What if a wolf should come? Or a bear? 

“Oh, Ma-a-a!” wailed Nell, the burden 
of her grief and naughtiness becoming 
too heavy for her to bear. 

Eliza the brave, the resourceful, echoed 
the same cry. 

Then right away, almost as if she had 
not gone downstairs at all, Mother came 
back. She really had been just in the 
next room expecting that cry, feeling sure 
that little girls who had learned the “N” 
or “M” catechism and could say the Ten 
Commandments, knew that it was wrong 
to go away and lose their little brother, 
and would very soon be sorry, and tell 
Mother all about it. 

And they did tell, one helping the other 
111 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


in their zeal that nothing be missed, so 
that it was sometimes very hard for 
Mother to understand. 

“And we couldn’t find the bush where 
we left him,” sobbed the careless little sin- 
ners, “and we didn’t like to tell, fear we’d 
miss the Festible. But we don’t care 
’bout that now, just so you send Aleck 
or Fred out to find him — under a bush — 
in his go-cart — ” 

And their grief and penitence were so 
nearly hysterical that Mother took them 
from their little bed, and led them, all 
shaken with sobs, over to the north cham- 
ber where, safe in his own little crib, lay 
fat Baby Edgar, fast asleep. 

After they had each been allowed to 
kiss him, very softly so that he should not 
waken, Mother told them how Herbert, 
coming from the field, had found little 
Edgar, and brought him home, and how 
she had decided that it was best not to say 
112 


THE LOST BABY 


anything, but to let the little culprits 
make their own confession. The twins 
went back to their own little bed again; 
but now the dark brought no picture of a 
terrified lost baby; and although they 
knew almost surely that little girls who 
ran away and left their little brother, did 
not deserve to go to Festivals, they were 
too happy at being relieved of that dread- 
ful burden of fear for little Edgar’s 
safety to really care. 

When Mother called them to care for 
Baby the next afternoon, they did not ask 
to leave the yard. To-day it seemed very 
spacious and full of charm. So they 
wheeled him back and forth through the 
walks and drive, playing it was an en- 
chanted wilderness, where they might at 
any time meet a fairy godmother, and 
have their best wish granted. Strangely 
enough, this very nearly happened, for 
when Edgar had been put to bed, Mother 
113 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


smilingly told them that they should go 
to the Festival after all. 

“Mother thinks,” she said, speaking 
very slowly and distinctly, “that the 
fright and unhappiness of thinking you 
had lost little Brother will be enough to 
help you remember him always after 
this.” 

And the twins, with a shuddering recol- 
lection of the moment when they had pic- 
tured Baby Edgar, frightened and crying 
alone in the dark, thought so, too. 


114 


CHAPTER Y 

THE FESTIVAL 

A LTHOUGH the Fourth of July 
Festival was primarily for the 
children of the Sunday-school, 
their grown-up brothers and sisters were 
invited and urged to come, not only to 
aid in serving the feast, but to help enter- 
tain the children afterwards. This was 
why the Baileys’s big surrey was packed 
to the full, when it arrived at Mr. Mal- 
lory’s grove about eleven o’clock of the 
long-anticipated day, Eleanor and the 
twins were there all dressed alike in their 
new calicoes, “just like three little dogs 
with exactly the same spots,” said Eleanor 
crossly, at which the twins looked at her 
with indignant amazement. To be un- 
115 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


willing to dress like one’s own sisters was 
to them repudiating the ties of relation- 
ship, as anything different from having 
all their dresses off the same piece was 
quite outside the limits of their experi- 
ence. 

As soon as the twins alighted, they 
hastened to find out who else was there; 
and, to their delight, saw Miss Betty Mal- 
lory, who had been their teacher in the 
“N” or “M” class years ago when they 
were young, and who still kept up her in- 
terest in them, though she had since moved 
to Emporia. Full of shy pleasure, they 
hurried over to greet her and to hear the 
enthusiastic expression of joy with which 
she always accosted them. 

“Ah, here are my twinnies!” she called, 
hurrying forward to throw an arm about 
each, “and such big girls they are grow- 
ing to be, almost up to my waist! Now 
what are you doing? Going to Sunday- 
116 


THE FESTIVAL 


school, I suppose, Eliza always knowing 
her lessons, and Nell making hard work 
of it, but catching up by and by. Is 
that it?” 

“I said the ’mandments and got my 
Prayer Book,” announced Nell in sud- 
den eagerness. 

“You didn’t!” Miss Betty’s interest 
and delight were beautiful. “Now don’t 
you remember I promised that when you 
had earned your book, I would give you 
my old doll, my Sambo, to help you with 
your work? I’ll get him for you right 
away, before it’s time to wait on the ta- 
ble.” 

Always brisk and eager, Miss Betty 
hurried into the house where, in her 
brother’s attic, she still kept stored her 
childhood’s treasures. In a few moments 
she was back, carrying a black doll dressed 
like a footman. 

“Here he is,” she said, holding him up 

117 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


tenderly. “He isn’t very handsome, but 
how useful! You have no idea! When I 
was a little girl, he did all my work. If I 
had dusting or dishes to do, I just said, 
‘Sambo, here’s work for you.’ Of course 
I had to go along to superintend, but he 
was always there to help, and you have no 
idea how much easier it made every- 
thing.” 

“More interesting, too,” said Eliza in 
her grown-up way, examining the doll 
critically. 

She was not envious or jealous, there 
was none of that in Eliza’s disposition. 
She might covet your starry crown or one 
of your thorns of martyrdom, but none of 
your personal possessions. 

She could see a great advantage in such 
a servant as Sambo, and was glad that 
Nell possessed him. In peeling the po- 
tatoes and doing the dishes, tasks which 
118 


THE FESTIVAL 


began to loom darkly ahead of them, he 
would be invaluable. 

Just then there was a call for Miss 
Betty to help at the tables, and she hur- 
ried over, with the children at her side, 
Nell too happy for words. To be with 
her beloved Miss Betty and to have a new 
doll, — a servant doll, who had helped Miss 
Betty, and who would after this help lit- 
tle Nell! How kind Miss Betty was, 
but how busy! How fast her hands had 
to fly, making and piling up sandwiches! 
If she only had Sambo now to help her! 

“Sambo, here’s work to do,” said Nell 
softly, repeating the magic formula in 
Miss Betty’s behalf; and pretending that 
he was actively assisting, Nell danced her 
doll along the edge of the table. 

“Look out, Nell Bailey!” warned 
Eliza, her critical eyes missing nothing. 
“Just see, Miss Betty, she danced her 
119 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


doll’s old black foot right on that nice 
san’wich.” 

“That won’t matter,” replied Miss 
Betty merrily, for she loved to tease, “I’ll 
just give her that sandwich for her own 
dinner.” 

And placing the contaminated portion 
on a plate — for the children were gather- 
ing to the tables now, — she set it before 
the drooping and abashed twin. If she 
had looked up as she did this, and had 
seen how Nell’s face had changed from 
its expression of childish joy to one of 
shamed self-consciousness, she would 
never have singled her out for even such a 
tiny stroke of discipline at the beautiful, 
much-anticipated picnic. But she did 
not look, and Nell drooped alone, the 
light gone out of the sun, the blue gone 
out of the sky. 

How could Sambo have been so 
clumsy! To kick his old foot like that! 

120 


THE FESTIVAL 


And here she was punished at a picnic, 
before everybody, and had to eat dirty 
bread, or else starve! Nell pinched a 
tiny bit off one corner of the sandwich. 
It certainly had a sandy, gritty taste. 
Doubtless Sambo, who had been a serv- 
ant all his life, had not been taught to 
wash his feet. And yet she had to eat 
that sandwich, ’cause ’Liza told. An’ her 
brothers would all be mad at her, acting 
so, an’ Aline wouldn’t like it; and Mr. 
Rogers saw, and maybe he’d think, ’cause 
her little sister didn’t know more’n to 
dance her nigger doll over the bread, 
Aline couldn’t have the school, and she 
wanted it so. And Nell’s shamed little 
head drooped lower and lower. 

Yes, Mr. Rogers had seen, and what 
was more, he understood. Mr. Rogers 
understood a good many things. That 
was why he was superintendent of the 
city schools of Emporia at the early 
121 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


age of twenty-eight. Understanding, he 
made his way around to the children’s ta- 
ble. 

“Where’s that doll, that fine black fel- 
low I saw skipping around here?” he be- 
gan, to lead up to his point. 

“He’s there,” said Miss Betty, pointing 
to where the doll lay as forlorn and de- 
jected as his mistress. “He stepped on 
a sandwich, and — ” Here Miss Betty’s 
glance fell on the shamed little twin, and 
she, too, understood. 

“Stepped on a sandwich, you say?” said 
Mr. Rogers with apparent eagerness. 
“Could you spare that one for me, Mad- 
am? I’ve heard that ‘nigger toes’ are 
considered a great delicacy down in — in 
Brazil, but I’ve never tasted a sandwich 
flavored with one.” 

“Here ’tis,” said Eliza, indicating 
Nell’s despised portion. 

Mr. Rogers managed to find a place 
122 


THE FESTIVAL 


between the two children, and, begging a 
share of Nell’s sandwich, praised its flavor 
until the forlorn little girl, tasting it, too, 
found to her surprise that the queer gritty 
taste was all gone, and that it was sweet 
white bread and butter. By the time 
they had eaten another and yet another 
sandwich together, and then had taken 
berries and cream, the games had begun, 
and Nell was chasing Mr. Rogers in 
“Drop the Handkerchief,” and enjoying 
herself in many delightful ways. 

“Don’t be so busterous ” reproved 
Eliza, who ran with one elbow close to her 
side and her shoulders stiff, like Miss 
Cates. “You act just as happy as if you 
lived here.” 

“I don’t care. I caught Mr. Rogers 
in ‘Drop the Handkerchief,’ ” returned 
Nell proudly, “and nobody else could, 
not even Aline. Oh, there he goes now !” 
her sharp eyes catching sight of a light 
123 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


carriage down by the entrance gate, “and 
Aline’s going to ride home with him ! 
Le’s us go, too!” 

“Le’s,” agreed Eliza, raising her voice 
with Nell. 

“Wait, Aline! Wait for us! We’ll 
come. Wait! Ma-a-a, must she?” 

For Aline had stepped lightly into Mr. 
Rogers’ waiting buggy, and had driven 
off without even hearing the protests of 
her small sisters. Nell thought that Mr. 
Rogers heard, from the flash of fun that 
crossed his face, but he merely raised his 
hat in thanks to Herbert for holding his 
horse, and drove off quickly without even 
looking up the drive, down which the 
twins came shrieking, 

“Wait, Aline. We’ll come, too. 
Wait! Oh, Ma-a-a, make her wait!” 

“It’s a wonder you couldn’t roar some,” 
said Herbert crossly, when he reached 
them. 


124 



Nell was chasing Mr. Rogers.— Page 123. 













. 

















THE FESTIVAL 


Then they saw their own surrey driv- 
ing up to the gate with Fred and Willis 
in the front seat. People were packing 
to go home, and the picnic was over. 

“Fm going to tell Ma how Aline went 
off and left us,” complained Nell, clam- 
bering into the surrey. 

“I would,” said Willis, sarcastically. 
“Maybe she’ll get spanked.” 

Willis did not look very well pleased 
himself; he hated picnics, and had come 
to this only because Aline had begged 
him to; and now she had gone off and 
left him as well as the twins. For a few 
moments there was a busy time packing 
baskets and people in the surrey, and 
then they started, the twins loudly airing 
their grievance. 

“An’ there she went off an’ left us, her 
own little sisters, that she brought to the 
picnic,” grumbled Nell. “Lef’ us alone, 
while she went off with a man ” 


125 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“An’ he wasn’t even any ’lation to her,” 
scolded Eliza, “but she went off with him, 
and left her own little sisters, just as if 
she liked him best.” 

“Just wait till I get home,” said Nell 
wrathfully, “an’ I’ll say to her — this is 
what I’ll say, ‘Ain’t you ’shamed of your- 
self, Aline, leaving your sisters to go off 
like that with a man, just ’s if you liked 
other folks better’n your own ’lations.’ ” 
“An’ next week when Aline wants me 
to get her thimble or pick up her thread,” 
chimed in Eliza, “what’ll I say to her? 
I’ll say, ‘Asking your little sister that you 
left at the picnic to do things for you! 
Why don’t you ask your Mr. Rogers?’ 
That’s what I’ll say.” 

But when they reached home and the 
twins were ready to release — one could 
hardly say their bottled wrath, since it 
had effervesced during all the homeward 
journey — and were fully prepared to pour 
126 


THE FESTIVAL 


out the vials of their wrath upon the rec- 
reant Aline, behold, she was not there! 

They heard Herbert telling Mother 
that she and Mr. Rogers had gone to 
Fielding to take a picnic supper with 
Cousin Martha, and that they would stay 
for the fireworks. 

“We boys are invited, too,” added Her- 
bert, “so just as quick as we can get the 
chores done and change teams, we are go- 
ing to drive on up.” 

“Never mind about the chores,” called 
Willis from the hall, “I’ll see to them. 
You get your other team, and hurry 
along.” 

“All right, we’ll be ready in a minute,” 
said the twins, skipping out of the surrey, 
and hurrying up the stairs. 

They thought they heard a chuckle 
from Willis as they passed, but they were 
too busy to notice in their concern to 
smooth their hair, which was quite rough 
127 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


with running, and to wipe their little 
grimy fingers. In the midst of these 
preparations for a second festivity, they 
were horrified to hear the rattle of wheels 
at the front door and then down the 
drive. 

“Wait, wait!” they screamed, hurry- 
ing down the stairs. “Oh, don’t let them 
go, Willis! Ma-a, Ma-a-a!” 

For down at the end of the drive, turn- 
ing into the main road, the surrey was 
out of hearing and fast disappearing 
from sight. 

4 “Wait, wait!” shrieked the twins, pre- 
paring to race after, when Mother came 
hurrying from the dining room. 

“Oh, Ma, Ma, they’ve gone and left 
us!” cried the little sisters, too much ex- 
hausted with screaming to do more than 
sob. 

“Dear children,” said Mother, laying a 
tender hand on each frowsy little head, 
128 


THE FESTIVAL 


“you could not go on that long drive to 
be out so late. You are far too young.” 

“Young!” Nell’s voice thrilled with 
scorn at the very thought. “I guess I 
beat Aline running to-day, and I waked 
up before the sermon was out last Sun- 
day.” 

“I’m not young,” said Eliza, likewise de- 
nying the soft impeachment. “Haven’t 
I had measles? An’ I quit drinking milk 
like a baby long ago.” 

“But you are too young for this,” in- 
sisted Mother, “so is Eleanor. She is 
putting Baby Edgar to bed, while I set 
out a little supper for the picknickers. 
Then I’ll take you to bed.” 

But the twins, satiated with picnic, said 
that they did not want any supper, and 
that they would put themselves to bed. 
So they retired upstairs in gloom, friend- 
less and forlorn, — having a mother who 
did not love them enough to let them go 
129 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


to fireworks, one sister who denied the 
bonds of relationship so far as to go rid- 
ing with a man who was not even one of 
the family, and another who was so unsis- 
ter ly as to want to dress differently, and 
brothers who drove away and left them 
behind. Their sorrows were too deep for 
tears. 

“I’m just going to have the measles all 
over again,” declared Nell, as she and 
Eliza struggled with each other’s buttons, 
“and this time maybe I’ll die. Then I 
guess they’ll be sorry they didn’t treat me 
nicer.” 

But Eliza was considering a deeper, 
more profound revenge. Some time 
when folks treated her like this, maybe a 
fairy would step up and say: 

“Come with me, Princess Goldilocks. 
Long years ago you were stolen from 
your parents, the King and Queen, and 
130 


THE FESTIVAL 

I come to restore you to their waiting 
arms.” 

Then she would have a crown and jew- 
els and all kinds of beautiful things, and 
if she wanted fireworks she could have 
barrels full right in the castle yard. But 
she would not forget the people she had 
lived with so long. She would send them 
presents, perhaps she would let Nell come 
and see her; but she would always have a 
sad, sad face, caused by the pain their 
cruelty had given her. 

But here Eliza’s fairy dreams ended 
suddenly, just as Nell’s picture of her 
family weeping over her little green grave 
had vanished; and neither little twin 
wakened when Mother gently finished 
their undressing, and tucked them safely 
into bed. 


131 


CHAPTER VI 

BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 

4 4 IT DO declare !” said Aline, looking 
intently at Nell’s rosy cheeks, as 
she slipped off the small dress 
Aline was fitting, “I believe that child is 
actually getting fat.” 

“Lemme see,” said Eliza, crowding up, 
and turning sideways to get a closer look 
at Nell’s round chin, which she scanned 
for a moment of profound consideration. 
“She is, too,” she finally concluded, draw- 
ing her lower lip in quite out of sight and 
setting a row of scandalized upper teeth 
over it. “Really and truly fat, just like 
Mis’ Dooley.” 

“Not neither,” contradicted Nell in 
startled surprise, which was hardly to be 
wondered at, for Mrs. Dooley was of 
132 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


mountainous stature, and weighed some- 
thing over two hundred and fifty pounds. 

“Mebbe you will be,” persisted Eliza 
wisely. “Now’t you’ve begun, you may 
get fatter and fatter and more fatter and 
more fatter, an’ — ” 

Here Eliza paused for words to express 
the magnificent corpulence painted by her 
glowing thoughts. 

“1 won’t either! I sha’n’t! Will I, 
Aline?” begged Nell in an agony of ap- 
prehension over the gloomy future un- 
folded for her by Eliza, upon whose calm 
judgment she was w^ont to rely. 

But Aline was so busy considering 
whether, out of the material provided for 
new dresses for the girls, she could not 
squeeze a little apron for Edgar, that she 
did not observe the startling growth and 
inflorescence of the tiny seed of thought 
she had carelessly dropped into small Eli- 
za’s fertile brain. 


133 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Mebbe you will,” repeated Eliza, 
whose imagination flourished like a green 
bay-tree, and flowered with more than 
tropical profusion, ‘‘an’ you might keep 
on an’ on, till you was bigger’n Mis’ 
Dooley, an’ nen you’d have to go in a 
side-show like the fat woman in the circus, 
an’ Aleck would drive you, an’ he’d say, 
‘Ten cents to see the Fat Lady,’ ’cause 
you wouldn’t be a little girl any more, 
you’d be so fat.” 

“Ma-a-a, must she! Will I? Shall 
he?” shrieked Nell, utterly distracted by 
the extent and enormity of the corporos- 
ity foreshadowed in this gloomy picture. 

“Eliza, what nonsense are you talk- 
ing?” demanded Aline, suddenly waking 
up to her surroundings. “Nell, don’t be 
foolish; it’s very nice to be fat, I’m sure. 
Eliza, if you tease any more, I’ll send 
you upstairs,” and unaware that she had 
but carelessly confirmed Eliza’s most 
134 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


dreadful predictions, Aline went back to 
her patterns. 

Silence reigned for a moment, — 
stunned silence on Nell’s part, for Aline 
had not denied it, and it must be going to 
be true. She was indeed going to be a 
“Fat Lady,” one who had to sit on a big 
box, ’cause chairs wouldn’t hold her. 
She’d probably have to give her little red 
chair to Edgar. And she couldn’t ride 
in the surrey any more ’nless she went 
alone. Maybe she’d go in a auto, they 
were strong, — she and Aleck. And when 
they had gone and gone, they would have 
ten “centses” and ten “centses.” Nell was 
beginning to overlook the disadvantages 
of the situation in considering the number 
of ten “centses” she and Aleck would ac- 
cumulate to bring home and buy candy 
and dresses and neckties ; and in the 
beauty and extent of the list she was be- 
coming quite happy again, when casting 
135 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


up her eyes to aid her in considering how 
much two sticks of candy and one red hair- 
ribbon would cost, her glance fell upon 
her twin. 

Eliza, denied the privilege of speech, 
was making use of the natural language 
of children and primitive people to depict 
to her sister the vastness, the magnitude 
of the adipose tissue which she was rap- 
idly accumulating. Holding her mouth 
puckered to a mere dot, Eliza had puffed 
her cheeks out nearly to the point of 
bursting, while she held both hands with 
outspread fingers about ten inches from 
each side of her small stomach, to indi- 
cate the vast growth and protuberance 
of this portion of Nell’s body when she 
had become “fatter’n Mis’ Dooley” and 
traveled in a side-show. 

“Oh, Aline, ’tisn’t so! Must she?” 
wailed Nell suddenly, and then Aline 
again waked to the situation. 

136 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


“Why in the world must you twins al- 
ways squabble so!” she remonstrated. 
“Eliza, you run upstairs and help dress 
Edgar, and, Nell, put these pins back 
in the cushion.” 

Going back to her cutting out, Aline 
still did not understand how the trouble 
arose; nor did she realize that here beside 
her, arranging the pins in circles, zigzag, 
crosswise, was the future “Fat Lady” of 
Smith Brothers’ Circus, who had dedi- 
cated all her ten “centses” to the pleasure 
and support of her family. 

But Nell’s face stayed fat, in spite of 
her efforts to conceal it by holding her 
hands under her ears, until at supper 
even Father, who was home at the time, 
noticed. 

“Getting to be our little round-faced 
girl again, isn’t she?” he said, smiling. 

But he spoke with no dark portent of 
side-shows or Fat Ladies; and Nell took 
137 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


courage and went to bed quite happily, 
notwithstanding the fact that Eliza, by 
puffing out her cheeks like a fat pocket- 
gopher, kept her reminded of the threat 
in her dismal future, until Mother took 
away the light. 

When Nell opened her eyes the next 
morning, the first thing she noticed was 
that Eliza had grown fat, too. 

“Oh, ’Liza, your cheek is all fat like 
mine!” she cried rejoicingly. 

“ ’Tisn’t so,” said Eliza, jumping up 
to look in the mirror. 

But it was undeniably true, and when 
they went down to breakfast, every one 
else saw it, too, and Aline affirmed, 

“Mother, I believe the twins are get- 
ting the mumps.” 

This turned out to be the case. So the 
little girls were straightway put into 
warm little under- vests to keep them from 
taking cold, while Baby Edgar 
138 


was 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


promptly quarantined in Mother’s room, 
— a precaution which proved unavailing, 
just as it had in the case of the measles, 
since Edgar had a very mild and squally 
form of both diseases. But from the 
first discovery of this distressing peculi- 
arity, the twins grew fatter and fatter, 
and at the same time crosser and more 
sleepy. Their faces puffed out so that 
they did not look like themselves at all, 
as they peered in the glass, but like some 
other very odd-looking little girls come 
to visit. 

At the very fattest stage Eliza broached 
the subject of the side-show, at which 
Aleck merely snorted in a way he had 
adopted, perhaps because speech was dif- 
ficult; but he did not embrace the oppor- 
tunity thus offered to start him in a lu- 
crative business. Nor did Mother en- 
courage the idea of inviting people to 
come and see them for five or even ten 
139 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

cents apiece. So, deprived of this chance 
of entertainment as well as of revenue, 
the twins joyfully watched their faces 
grow thinner and thinner, until they were 
just themselves again, — little Nell and 
Eliza Bailey, with the threatened danger 
of the side-show and the Fat Lady quite 
averted. 

And then for a little while things went 
on as usual, until one day Aline, who had 
been gathering together her treasures to 
pack and go away to teach school, de- 
clared that she absolutely must have a pic- 
ture of the twins to look at when she felt 
downhearted and homesick. 

The question of who could take the 
twins to town to be photographed threat- 
ened at first to be a poser, since both 
Mother and Aline were far too busy with 
sewing and packing to spare even an 
hour, much less a whole day; but the dif- 
ficulty was pleasantly and satisfactorily 
140 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


settled when they found that Father had 
a day to spare, and would like very much 
to go. No nicer arrangement could be 
imagined, for the twins were always good 
with Father. 

So the very next day, dressed in their 
best clothes, which were so stiffly starched 
that they stood out about the children like 
the petals of a gigantic cabbage-rose, as 
they settled into their seats, the little sis- 
ters climbed into the wide-seated phaeton 
to go with Father to be photographed. 
They wore their new hats, now a trifle 
floppy as to the brims; their braids were 
tied with the most “beyew-tiful” fresh 
bows ; and best and most delightful of all, 
framing the edge of each smooth, round 
forehead was a row of charming curls, 
made in Aline’s very best style, to beau- 
tify the loose, flying short hairs which had 
grown to take the place of those that had 
come out with the measles. 

141 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


"And so in the beautiful early friorning 
they had started on the wonderful jour- 
ney to town with Father to have their 
pictures taken, which did not hurt like 
having your tooth pulled, nor was it even 
unpleasant like going to the doctor’s, and 
being told to put out your tongue, and 
perhaps having it held down with a spoon. 
But at the picture place you must be very 
clean and not muss your dress, and you 
must sit quite still. They had been told 
this many, many times. 

“Good-by, twinnies-,” called Aline as 
the wheels began to crunch, crunch on the 
gravel. “Be sure that you don’t spoil 
your curls.” 

“Guess we know better’n that,” was the 
twins’ injured thought, holding their 
necks very stiff as they sped rapidly out 
upon the highway; and then, when they 
had gone on and on down the wide road, 
and had passed many houses, and the 
142 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


wind had freshened, so great was their 
fear lest something might happen to those 
lovely rings of hair that they covered 
them carefully with their moist little 
hands. 

Throughout all the long journey, 
shortened to-day by an occasional story 
from Father, they did not once forget to 
exercise this care. Yet in spite of these 
precautions, when they got to the photog- 
rapher’s, they looked in the glass and saw 
that the beauty of the little curls was 
all gone, and the once crinkly short hairs 
stood out so straight and so stringy that 
even Father, who had never in his life 
made curls for children, saw that they 
would never do at all. Of course, there 
were the curling-irons, and if Aline or 
Mother had been there, they would have 
known that the thing to do was to put the 
curls right back. But Father, who knew 
’most everything about business and trains 
143 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


and people and church, plainly knew 
nothing about curls. 

“Come, children,” he said; and taking 
up the brush, he brushed their short hairs 
carefully once, then wet the brush, and 
brushed them again, leaving their heads 
as round and smooth as a robin’s, and, 
worse still, shiny as a wild duck’s. 

The twins gave one look in the glass at 
this horrible change, and then turned 
away, their squared lips ready to roar 
with grief and disappointment. A warn- 
ing glance from Father stopped them, 
however; Father did not like crying chil- 
dren. “Swallow that woodchuck! Swal- 
low that woodchuck!” he would say, and 
if the woodchuck continued to grow and 
to climb up in their throats, he would say 
their names right out loud. What would 
have happened if the woodchuck had 
come ’way up, they never knew; for they 
had always swallowed him, even when he 
144 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


had swelled so large in their throats that 
there was hardly room for their breaths 
beside him. 

“I tell you what le’s do,” said Eliza, not 
daring to let the “chuck” get so much as 
a start into her choky throat. “By’m 
by, when the picture is just ready to take, 
le’s put up our fingers wide apart, like 
this, on each side, and fix our hair all wavy 
like Mis’ Ellis, you know.” 

Nell knew. She had often studied and 
admired Mrs. Ellis’s “water-waves,” but 
was not so intimately acquainted with 
them as Eliza, who had often hung over 
the back of the pew on Sunday to exam- 
ine them at closer range, much to Aline’s 
embarrassment, and to the joy of Jim 
Ellis, who thought himself the magnet of 
attraction. 

But circumstances conspired to put 
the matter entirely out of Eliza’s head. 

“Look up here,” the artist had said, 
145 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


when the twins were nicely settled upon a 
soft, cushiony settee, and he had indi- 
cated a small disk fastened upon the top 
of an easel. 

Eliza looked. In her anxiety to see all 
that could be seen, she thrust out a small, 
inquiring chin to aid her in her scrutiny. 
At this movement the artist paused in 
his adjustment of the camera, and went 
back to settle Eliza’s pose. 

“Draw your chin back so,” he ex- 
plained, straightening her head with his 
two hands. 

Eliza, eager to accommodate, drew her 
chin as far back as the resistance of mat- 
ter would allow, still keeping her eyes 
fixed on the disk, drawing her eyebrows 
well up to keep them out of her line of vis- 
ion; and looking generally like a dimin- 
utive grandmother peering over the top 
of a pair of invisible spectacles. 

But Nell remembered the waves; and 
146 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


just as the photographer said, “Get ready 
now,” she executed a whirling motion 
through her hair with both hands, mak- 
ing her hair look as if a pair of enterpris- 
ing mice had prepared to establish resi- 
dences there, one on each side of her brow. 
After she had finished this original hair- 
dressing, she raised , her small shoulders 
apprehensively, and looked round, — not 
with her head, “guess she knew better ’n 
to turn that,” but just with her eyes, to 
see what Father thought of the result. 
But Father’s thoughts were far away 
with the Board of Missions or his Sun- 
day’s sermon, decidedly not upon the im- 
mediate problems of curls and photo- 
graphs; and a few little idiosyncrasies, 
which would have appealed to Mother or 
Aline at once, quite escaped his eye. 

“Click!” went the camera, and the pic- 
ture was taken; and the negatives, with 
all these adjustments and improvements, 
147 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


were such that Aline laughed till the tears 
rolled down her cheeks when she saw 
them. 

But Willis looked with disapproving 
eyes upon this picture of his two small 
sisters, one with smoothly plastered head, 
making an apparent effort to view the 
starry heavens from under uplifted 
brows; the other, with hair arranged as if 
by twin cyclones, seemingly trying to ex- 
amine the exterior of her left ear. 

“Of all the caricatures !” he exploded. 
“The twins are a fairly decent pair of cit- 
izens, — once in a while during the new 
moon, when the wind is in the right quar- 
ter; but these might be a pair of infant 
pirates.” 

“I’ll never have a dreary moment while 
I possess these,” cried Aline delightedly. 
“I’ll hang them over the foot of my bed, 
where I can see them the minute I wake 


148 



Just as the photographer said, “Get ready now.”— Page 147 






BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


in the morning. It will put me in a good 
humor for all day.” 

“You might put them in the cellar to 
keep the rats out,” suggested Willis, “or 
in the corn-field when the crows are bad. 
But why on earth you should want to show 
to new acquaintances a picture like that 
of your young relatives, — one with her 
eyes rolled up like a duck dying of acute 
grasshopper-eatibus, and the other look- 
ing like a scratchy-headed poodle listen- 
ing for a mouse — ” 

Willis stopped here, for Aline touched 
his arm to show him the twins, listening 
with round-eyed eagerness for comments 
and compliments on their first, their won- 
derful photographs. 

“Oh, Willis, they overheard you,” she 
reproached, as the children hurled them- 
selves, an avalanche of grief, into their 
mother’s lap. 


149 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Oh, Ma-a-a, Ma-a-a!” wept Nell, “am 
I a scratchy poodle?” 

While Eliza, true to her ideals even in 
this hour of woe, mourned, 

“Mu-u-uther, Motho-o-or, am I a dy- 
y-ing duck?” 

Impelled by the reproof in his mother’s 
eyes, Willis, in all haste, made honorable 
amends. 

“Why, children,” he remonstrated, “I 
did not think you’d mind a little fun! 
Why, I think your pictures are — ” love 
of truth strove with a desire to bring 
back the smiles to those sorrow-dimmed 
faces — “are — remarkable. I consider 
them — er — quite — a — e pluribus 
unum and — er — toute ensemble ” 

His apology was accepted in the spirit 
in which it was offered. The clouds 
broke away. The sun shone again. The 
twins smiled. 

“We didn’t know they were tootin’ 
150 


BEING PHOTOGRAPHED 


Sam’l,” replied Nell happily, “but we 
knew they were something pretty nice, 
didn’t we, ’Liza?” 

But in spite of Aline’s amusement and 
the delighted satisfaction of the small 
subjects, Willis’s counsel prevailed, and 
opportunity was sought to have the little 
girls taken for a new sitting. Father 
was away this time, so Fred undertook 
the charge of the twins so far as safety 
and general conduct were concerned, 
while Eleanor went along to supervise 
the curls, the “butterfly” bows, and the 
toilet generally. 

In the second picture the details were 
somewhat more satisfactory, but to suit 
some ideas of symmetry on the part of 
Fred or the artist, tall Eleanor was placed 
in the center of the picture with a tiny 
twin on each side. 

“Like as if I were a guide-post or a 
telephone-pole,” the “middle” sister ob- 
151 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


served, contemplating the result with 
much disfavor. 

But in this picture the bows were nicely 
arranged, the curls were all one could de- 
sire, and they all held their heads well 
up, and kept their eyes to the front. 
There was really no fault to be found, and 
yet — and yet — 

“It’s more s-stylish and p-proper, I 
s-suppose,” said Aleck, forgetting his 
toothpick in the intensity of his senti- 
ments, “b-but the first one b-beat this all 
s-silly. 5> 


152 


CHAPTER VII 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 

A BIG sister away from home 
meant many new and difficult 
duties for the small sisters left 
behind. It meant that they must learn 
to pick up their own toys and clothes, 
to help Eleanor make the beds, and that 
they must wheel Edgar in his cart every 
day, instead of only once in a while. All 
of these troublesome tasks they managed 
to accomplish with the valuable and in- 
spiring assistance of Sambo. Then, too, 
Aline wanted letters; but these were not 
attempted, until a return to school re- 
newed their very slight acquaintance with 
the black art of juggling with pen and 
ink. 

It was near Thanksgiving, just after 
153 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

they had finished their first compositions, 
“Cats and Dogs, our Boon Friends,” as 
the twins expressed it, before they were 
inspired to begin the long-talked-of let- 
ters to Aline. Nearly all one stormy 
Saturday afternoon they toiled over 
them, when they were not scratching the 
thick frost off the window-panes in round 
patches, through which first with one eye 
and then with the other, they looked out 
at the fast-flying snow. Of course this 
took much time from the letters. They 
had first to be written with pencil, and 
then copied on thick, smooth paper with 
pen and ink, and because of the distrac- 
tion of the frost the early winter’s twi- 
light had grown quite dark before the 
pencil work was done, and the copying 
had to be done by lamp-light. Then 
after all was finished, they proudly in- 
vited Father to come and read the letters 
they had written to Aline. 

154 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


“Letters to Aline!” exclaimed Father, 
apparently as much surprised as if he 
had not heard, “Please, how do you spell 
this?” nearly all the afternoon. “Now 
where are these remarkable epistles?” 

Eliza stiffened with horror at this use 
of a “Bible word” in jest, but even her 
ready zeal hardly ventured to reprove 
Father, so they led the way to the dining- 
room side-table, which had served them 
for an impromptu desk. Mr. Bailey be- 
gan with Eliza’s letter, which, although 
ornamented with a round blot at the up- 
per right-hand corner and two inky thumb 
marks on the lower edge, presented over 
the rest of its scrawly surface a moder- 
ately fair appearance. 

“Miss Aline Bailey 

“Dear Sir, 

“I am taking my pen in hand to write 
you a Letter and Tell you It is a most 
pleasant Day. It is Snowing out of the 
Winder where we lokked in the hole that 
155 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


Nell likked on the Winder Pain. I doe 
not likk holes in Winder Pains. It is nott 
a nelergent thing to doe Willis sais and is 
most bad for the tung Nell is writing by 
this saim Oppertunity and i think is saing 
many common things I can tell nerely 
evrything she rites from the words she asks 
ma i do not like common things i wish to 
rite what is Stringe an unusuel hoaping 
this letter will find you the saim 
“I remain 

“your very obedient servant 
“Eliza Bailey ” 

The salutation and conclusion were 
copied from one of Aleck’s study-books, 
and Eliza regarded them as the crown- 
ing glory of her effort. She waited anx- 
iously to hear what Father would say to 
them; but beyond straightening his lips 
very firmly at the close of the letter, he 
made no sign, and immediately took up 
Nell’s, which was so lavishly ornamented 
with spots and blotches of ink, that it 
was not strange that some of them had ex- 
tended themselves to her own person. 

156 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


“Dear Aline 

“I am taking my pen in hand to tell you 
that Aleck got a new book for His Birth 
Day Herberts pollymair has got a new 
Coalt Mrs Garvey Has got A girl Baby 
our Cow has got A caff and the Hen has 
Six little Chickens i hardly ever See our 
old Cat any more I think He has got sum 
thing the mater of Him i have got to stop 
Now so good by 
“from 

“yours respectfully 

“Miss Nell Bailey” 

“Are they nice, Papa? May they go?” 
cried Nell, hardly able to wait till Father 
had finished reading. 

Mr. Bailey smiled quizzically. 

“If you have left enough ink for me to 
address them,” he said, looking over the 
much bespattered pages and children, “I 
think they may.” 

And so the letters were sealed and 
sent to far-away Aline to bring a funny 
little thought of home into her busy days. 
1 57 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


But the next letters were not nearly so 
prodigal of ink. Willis saw to that. 

“There is no use of being ostentatious, 
children,” he remarked in his grave, comic 
way, when he had settled them at their 
next task of writing. “It is a good thing 
to have plenty of ink, but there is no need 
of vulgar display. Save a little for the 
time when the well runs low. And it is 
not necessary to dot your I’s with such 
zeal as to splash the ink in your own eye, 
nor cross your T’s so furiously as to dig a 
hole in the paper.” 

“Willis is always so erdikerlous,” gig- 
gled Nell, toiling painstakingly under 
these directions; and although Aline did 
not laugh so heartily over these new let- 
ters, she said, “The twins are certainly im- 
proving.” 

Christmas time soon interrupted fur- 
ther correspondence, for the time being. 
Then Aline would be home, and kind 
158 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


Santa Claus would come, and bring pres- 
ents for the entire family. The twins 
had never seen the good old saint as yet, 
though all the older ones of the family 
had, and seemed on tiresomely intimate 
terms with him. They were therefore al- 
ways in a position to report any lapses 
of conduct on the part of the smaller chil- 
dren who had not yet had the pleasure of 
his acquaintance. 

In the Bailey household, however, all 
the burden of gifts did not lie with Santa 
Claus. He was expected to bring only 
one beautiful, ardently-desired present to 
each person, — that thing one openly 
lacked and wished for many times a day. 
The rest was done by the members of the 
family themselves; and, being a large 
and busy household, continually short of 
money, — since the stipend of a home mis- 
sionary, however zealous, is never more 
than insufficient, — they had adopted a 
159 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


practice of giving to each other out of 
their individual surplus possessions, not 
with a mean intention to get rid of an un- 
pleasant duty in the cheapest and least 
troublesome way, but with a really kind 
and generous impulse to share with the 
others things which they had found beau- 
tiful and useful to themselves. 

In this way a letter-case which Aline 
had found convenient one year, graced 
Willis’s desk the next. A pair of slip- 
pers very welcome to Fred last winter, 
but now pinching a trifle about the toes, 
was quite acceptable to Aleck’s younger 
feet. And so on through a long list down 
the entire length of the family. Some 
very durable or little-used articles, such 
as vases and pictures, did service Christ- 
mas after Christmas; they had passed 
down the entire length of the family in 
lineal descent, as one might say, and were 
now well started on the way back. 

160 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


The twins had become initiated early 
into this method of Christmas giving, and 
had entered upon the practice with all the 
enthusiasm which usually attended their 
adoption of grown-up customs. For 
days they had been “rounding up” all 
their small possessions, and the morning 
before Christmas found the little girls 
busy selecting from among the array a 
suitable gift for each one of their many 
brothers and sisters. Their worldly 
goods were few, although they themselves 
did not realize the fact, and would have 
been the first to repudiate any intimation 
to this effect. 

“Not many toys!” Eliza would have 
said, repelling the insinuation with scorn, 
“Guess you never saw inside our doll- 
house and broorow draw to say that. We 
just got things and things. We’ve got 
dolls, an’ a cradle, an’ a woolly dog, an’ 
six marbles, an’ a box-table, an’ — ” 

161 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“An 5 dishes,” Nell’s eager voice would 
have taken up the tale, “six pieces of the 
pink platter that Aleck broke, and lots 
and lots off the old blue plates, an’ we 
got a broken mug, an’ a cracked cream- 
pitcher, an’ oh, the loveliest pieces of blue 
glass from Aline’s old med’cine bottle!” 

These and various other articles not 
included in the foregoing list were spread 
out on the bed, chair, and floor of their 
small bedroom, undergoing a careful re- 
view. 

“I believe we’ll give Aline that little 
glass cup this time,” said Eliza, laying 
this article carefully aside. “She hasn’t 
had that any Christmas since I can re- 
member.” 

“And we’ll give Willis the blue mug,” 
continued Nell, making a selection in her 
turn. The twins always gave in part- 
nership, though they usually received in- 
162 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


dividually. “It’ll look real nice up on 
his shelf, and we can tell him not to drink 
on the side where the piece is out.” 

“I wonder if Herbert wouldn’t ’joy 
his glass match-safe again?” queried 
Eliza, picking up Herbert’s last year’s 
gift to herself. 

“Sure, an’ I believe Fred would be 
pleased to see his slippers back,” said 
Nell, selecting a pair of number three 
velveteen slippers, relics of Fred’s early 
boyhood, which had descended to his small 
sisters by way of Aleck and Eleanor. 

The pile of gifts was slowly growing, 
but the list of available articles was di- 
minishing fast. The twins resumed 
their anxious inspection. 

“How’d Aleck like the marbles? He 
used to play marbles awful hard when he 
was younger,” suggested Nell. 

Eliza shook her head. 

163 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“We need those marbles,” she answered 
thoughtfully. “Le’s give him the red 
pincushion.” 

And as Nell eagerly assented to this, 
it left only Eleanor and Baby Edgar to 
be provided for; and just then Eliza had 
her brilliant idea. 

“We’ll give Edgar the muffstache 
cup,” she announced, taking that cher- 
ished article down from their tiny corner- 
shelf. “It’s so pretty, blue, with flowers, 
an’ he can drink his milk so nice out of 
that cute little hole.” 

With the impulse for riotous fun which 
often seized him in dealing with the twins, 
Fred had presented the mustache-cup to 
Nell on the preceding Christmas. He 
had at the same time bestowed upon 
Eliza his cast-off razor, inherited a year 
or two before from Herbert. Although 
eagerly received by Eliza, who loved the 
unusual, this gift was promptly taken in 
164 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


charge by Mrs. Bailey as unsafe for a 
childish plaything. It was still Eliza’s, 
however, though safe in her mother’s bu- 
reau drawer. “An’ the razor will be just 
the thing for Eleanor, won’t it?” she con- 
cluded, filled with a generous spirit of 
self-sacrifice; and there the whole family 
was handsomely provided for. 

“ ’Course it will,” said Nell, nodding 
her head emphatically, “ ’zactly the thing. 
I don’t b’lieve El’nor has ever had a razor 
before in all her whole life.” 

Then they began making other mys- 
terious transfers, each carefully unob- 
servant of the other; for just before 
Christmas it was not polite to see what 
anybody else was putting under the bed 
or in the closet, even though the tail of the 
woolly dog might protrude openly, or the 
Canton flannel elephant’s trunk wave 
quite in plain sight. Christmas etiquette 
required that you should not look, and 
165 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


that you should always be surprised. But 
since between themselves the Bailey twins 
always exchanged their last year’s gifts 
from Santa Claus in order to keep them 
in the firm as long as possible, the only 
real surprise would have been occasioned 
by a departure from this custom. 

Just as their arrangements had 
reached this satisfactory stage of comple- 
tion, they looked at each other with a sud- 
den gasp of dismay. 

“We’ve left out Father and Mother,” 
spoke Eliza with rueful precision. 

And sure enough, they had, and their 
stock of really suitable gifts was quite ex- 
hausted. As they stood rolling their eyes 
about in search of another bright thought, 
Nell’s glance fell upon the very thing 
for Mother, — the remnant of a once hand- 
some plate-glass hand-mirror formerly 
owned by Aline. To be sure it had been 
smashed to pieces by an unlucky fall, but 
166 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


the handle was still there with the loop of 
blue ribbon by which it had hung; and 
there was enough of the looking-glass 
part to see all your face, if you took the 
features separately and individually. 

It was certainly the very thing for 
Mother, and that left only Father, but to 
find a gift for him was very nearly a 
poser. It was only after they had looked 
through the doll-house and “broorow 
draw” again and again and were just 
about to give up and ask Mother what 
they should do, that they found something 
they were very sure he would like, a beau- 
tiful red ribbon they were saving to adorn 
their best doll. Of course it would make 
a fine present and must be spared, al- 
though it was needed very much in their 
housekeeping. It was more necessary to 
complete their list of presents, however, 
and Jemima could wait for her new sash. 

The next thing was wrapping, which 
167 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


proved a toilsome afternoon’s work; but 
was completed at last, and all the curious, 
knobby little parcels, marked with their 
own scraggy handwriting, were handed 
to Mother in good time to be put in the 
stockings along with Santa’s gifts. For 
the twins could not sit up for a glimpse 
of this kind old person, even though only 
they and Edgar had never seen him; and 
it was doubly hard to go to bed early this 
evening, because Father was coming late 
on the night-train. It would never do to 
cry, however, with Santa at the very door, 
so to speak. 

Accordingly the small sisters went off 
to bed as cheerfully as they were able, and 
never wakened from their long, dreamless 
slumbers, until Aline called “Merry 
Christmas” in the early, snowy morning. 
Downstairs, warm fires and Christmas 
stockings awaited them, but no Father. 

168 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


Owing to the heavy snow, they were told, 
last night’s train would not be in till this 
afternoon, and because of the same ob- 
struction, doubtless, Santa Claus had 
likewise failed them. 

“He’ll be along some time to-day or to- 
night,” Willis assured them; and, in the 
interest of their stockings, the twins for- 
got to be disappointed about Santa, 
though they certainly missed Father. 

“He’ll come to-night,” said Eliza, as 
they sat in the living-room, enjoying what 
one might call their Christmas inherit- 
ance, while Mother and Aline got dinner, 
and the big boys, the only members of 
the family who could brave the storm, 
had gone to church. 

“If it doesn’t snow too much,” qualified 
Nell with her eye at a hole in the frost 
on the window-pane. “But it’s awful 
snowy now, and o-o-oh, ’Liza!” 

169 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“What?” cried Eliza, jumping up 
quickly, for Nell’s voice was fraught with 
wonder and amazement. 

“There’s a great, big, frosty man, ’most 
like a snow-man, coming in at our front 
gate,” replied Nell in awe-stricken tones. 

“Le’ me see,” demanded Eliza, making 
a frantic effort to see through Nell’s 
round head, but Nell’s eye seemed glued 
to the aperture that she herself had made. 

“He’s coming up through the shrub- 
bery,” continued Nell, her voice some- 
what smothered by her efforts to see bet- 
ter, “ ’an’ he’s all big and snowy. Oh, 
’Liza, I b’lieve it’s Santa Claus.” 

“Le’ me see,” repeated Eliza to the 
back of Nell’s head in vain. 

And then, although we have it in her 
own handwriting that it was not a “nel- 
ergant” thing to do, she worked with her 
finger nails and her warm, red tongue, 
and cleared a peep-hole for herself. 

170 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 


Surely it must be the good saint himself 
coming up the long drive, very snowy all 
over his clothes and frosty about his hair, 
with his breath coming out of his mouth 
like long puffs of steam. 

“See all the things he’s carrying. 
Guess his reindeers couldn’t come in the 
snow,” said Eliza, watching eagerly. 
“Wonder how he’ll get upon the roof 
’ithout ’em.” 

“Oh, he’s coming right up on the 
porch!” cried Nell, as a heavy tread 
sounded without. “Oh, Ma, Ma, it’s 
Santa Claus! May we open the door 
when he knocks?” 

But he never stopped to knock at all. 
Instead he put a firm hand on the door- 
knob, the door swung open, and there in 
the hall, very snowy, and frosty, and cold, 
and laden down with bundles, was — not 
Santa at all — but Father! 

When Aleck and Eleanor had flown 
171 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


with whisk brooms to brush off the snow, 
and had carried away his damp wraps to 
be dried, and Father sat, warm and com- 
fortable, beside the glowing fire, he told 
how he had managed to get a ride on a 
special train which had come on ahead to 
clear the track, and how, finding no one 
in Kirksville to meet him, he had after- 
wards walked down from the station 
rather than wait. He had met Santa, 
too, it appeared, for he had all the special 
presents which were expected from that 
kind saint. After the bountiful Christ- 
mas dinner these were distributed, and the 
rest of the afternoon was a time for mirth 
and rejoicing. 

“Such a nice day!” commented Eliza 
when, tired of playing, they settled down 
to consider their pleasures. “So many 
nice presents! And then when we didn’t 
’spect him, Father came.” 

“Yes,” returned Nell earnestly, “and 
172 


CHRISTMAS JOYS 

we almost saw Santa Claus. If that 
had’a’ been him, ’stead of Father coming 
up the drive, we would have seen him, 
wouldn’t we?” 

“Yes,” agreed Eliza, with an air of 
great satisfaction, “if that had’a’ been him 
when we thought it was and it wasn’t, we 
would have seen him really and truly.” 


173 


CHAPTER VIII 

father’s sermon 

T HE next day was still white and 
even snowier than the one before; 
but although the dear delights of 
Christmas were over, things did not settle 
into the usual dull routine of shut-in win- 
ter days, for Father was to be home for 
the holidays, just the same as Aline. 
This was a wonderful treat for all, since 
Father had so little time with his family. 
His duties in the home-mission field al- 
lowed him only one or two hurried days 
at home each week, and these days were 
busy with the preparations of new ser- 
mons and arrangements to be off again. 

But to-day Father had word from the 
Bishop, forwarded by Dr. Smith, advis- 
ing him, because of the dreadful state of 
174 


FATHER'S SERMON 

the weather and roads, to cancel all en- 
gagements, at least until after the New 
Year. So Father had written messages, 
which Aleck, with joyful heart and long, 
willing legs, had conveyed to Kirksville 
to be sent by telegraph or telephone to any 
place expecting Mr. Bailey’s ministra- 
tions during the next week; and Father, 
at home, had spent a long, leisurely fore- 
noon among his books, and an afternoon 
of advice and discussion with the older 
boys, whose efforts on the farm supple- 
mented the little missionary stipend, and 
helped make both ends meet. 

But such a small stipend it was, and 
such a strange Board of Missions which, 
when bequests were received for the cause 
of Christ, invested the same at six or seven 
per cent, in human institutions, instead 
of putting the whole into that greatest of 
all investments, “Where the poor have the 
Gospel preached unto them,” whose secur- 
175 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ity is the sure promise of God. Mr. 
Bailey’s children were growing fast, and 
the Board of Missions was slow, so that the 
boys, — any one of whom, fired with the im- 
pulse of Father’s enthusiasm and earnest 
life, would have gladly entered upon that 
field of work, where the laborers always 
are few, — were obliged to be content with 
a smattering of education at the little 
Academy taught by Dr. Smith, and to 
spend their leisure hours and months 
working the little farm. Perhaps if Fa- 
ther had pushed the matter harder, been 
more importunate and strenuous in his de- 
mands upon the Board, some way might 
have been found; but being himself a child 
in faith and a boy in hope and enthusiasm 
at forty-five, how could he realize that 
his boys would be men at twenty, and 
that so the opportunity was passing? 

While work and plans kept every one 
much occupied during the day, the even- 
176 


FATHERS SERMON 

in g was to be spent socially, and then the 
twins had their turn. Once Father was 
comfortably settled in his big parlor 
chair, the little girls, waiting expectantly 
at each knee, were hospitably given a 
perch. Father had such a dear, wide 
lap; plenty of room for Nell and Eliza 
on his strong, steady knees and, if circum- 
stances required, a place for Baby Edgar 
behind in Father’s arms, though that was 
rather cramped and uncomfortable, par- 
ticularly for Edgar. To-night he stayed 
only for a moment, just while Mother 
was making ready to put him in his little 
crib. 

Then the twins had Father quite to 
themselves, for Willis and Herbert were 
busy with the latest papers, Fred and Al- 
eck were cutting a supply of kindling 
for the morning, and Aline and Eleanor 
were hurrying away the dishes. Such an 
evening as this was a treat which seldom 
177 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


came to them for any length of time, since 
Father was home so little. This was the 
first time he had come for more than a 
hurried visit since last summer, and that 
time he had been more busy while at home 
than when on his missionary rounds. 
Father could do anything, from giving 
the boys help and encouragement in their 
struggles with the farm, to advising and 
assisting Mother to make the most of 
their tiny income. 

During that vacation a very serious 
problem had confronted them. Pinch 
and squeeze the stipend as they would, 
the twins still lacked shoes. To be sure, 
Father’s stipend was a quarter behind, 
but who could tell when the uncertain 
Board would catch up? The little girls 
certainly could not go to school in shoes 
the tips of which had split apart in a 
wide “smile,” which let in both water and 
cold upon the little toes within. To meet 
178 



Plenty of room for Nell and Eliza on his strong, steady 

knees. — Page 177. 



FATHERS SERMON 


this emergency, Father, who could not be 
daunted, took the tools with which the 
boys mended the harness, and procuring 
a few additional necessities, proceeded to 
put on new tips made of leather from an 
old shoe; while the twins stood by, trans- 
fixed with wonder and admiration. 

One thing that happened they never 
forgot. When he had finished the second 
pair, Father took a sharp tool to cut 
away the projecting pegs. As he cut 
and dug away, the tool slipped, and cut a 
hole right through the newly-finished 
work. The twins gasped in dismay. 
What would Father say to having so 
much nice work spoiled? Would he 
throw it from him in disgust, as Willis 
sometimes did? Would he turn irritable 
and say, “Run away, children,” like nerv- 
ous Herbert? Or would he say a bad 
word, “Darn it!” like reckless Fred, or 
the milder, “Golly!” of amiable Aleck? 

179 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


The suspense was racking. The chisel 
protruded quite through the leather. 
What would Father do? 

Father looked at the shoe a moment in 
silence. “Dear me!” he ejaculated 
mildly, adjusting his glasses. 

And then this fine, scholarly clergy- 
man of irreproachable descent and bril- 
liant intellect, who worked for the love of 
God in the home-mission field on the mu- 
nificent salary of three hundred dollars a 
year, seldom paid until long overdue, 
went patiently to work, and put another 
new tip on the shabby little shoe, that his 
small daughter might not have to go to 
school with dusty, protruding toes. 

But on this happy evening no thought 
of cobbling disturbed dear Father’s mind. 
The stipend had all been paid now, 
the twins had brand-new shoes, and, for a 
wonder, there was a tiny surplus in the 
treasury. 


180 


FATHER S SERMON 


‘‘Tell us a story, please,” demanded the 
twins, as their seat on Father’s knee was 
rendered more stable by the subtraction 
of Baby Edgar. 

“A story?” repeated Father in a sur- 
prised, questioning tone, but with a twin- 
kling eye. “What could I tell you a 
story about? Suppose I preach you a 
sermon.” 

“Not a sermon,” begged Nell a little 
shamefacedly, “ ’cause I always go to 
sleep in sermons, and to-night we can 
stay up till nine o’clock.” 

“I don’t go to sleep in sermons,” 
boasted Eliza, “only — only sometimes. 
But we want to sit on your lap, Fawer, 
and you couldn’t throw your arms round 
the way they do in sermons ’thout knock- 
ing us off.” 

“Oh, that’s the way of it!” responded 
Father slowly. “Well, I suppose the 
sermon can wait.” 


181 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


He was thinking of something which 
Mother had said to him in regret for his 
frequent absences: 

“They say that shoemakers’ children 
go barefoot. It would really be too bad 
if a clergyman’s family should have to go 
uninstructed in the teachings of the 
Church. You must take time to talk to 
the children this vacation.” 

“Don’t you know any stories?” pleaded 
Eliza. “Didn’t you ever hear one about 
a bear or a soldier?” 

“Yes,” said Father, his thoughts re- 
turning to the present, “I have heard of 
both, particularly the latter; for I am a 
soldier, little daughter, and a leader in an 
army which is enlisted for a brave, life- 
long fight.” Father’s voice was earnest, 
and he spoke slowly, as if choosing his 
words. 

“Do you mean ‘Onward, Christian 
Soldiers’?” asked Nell, looking up in- 
182 


FATHER’S SERMON 

tently at Father, as he paused for a mo- 
ment. 

Father was very beautiful. His lips 
and cheeks were so red, and his gray eyes 
so clear and kind. 

“I know about being that kind of a sol- 
dier,” remarked Eliza, with a sudden as- 
sumption of elderly dignity. “It’s the 
kind where they promise to fight manfully 
always together so long as we both shall 
live.” 

“Well, not exactly,” corrected Father, 
biting his lips to keep from laughing at 
this unusual rendering of the marriage- 
service; for he was too polite to laugh at 
even a little girl’s mistakes. 

Just here Mother caipe into the room, 
and the little twins were spilled from Fa- 
ther’s lap, as he jumped up to push for- 
ward “Grandma’s” old easy chair into the 
circle of the firelight that Mother might 
have a seat. 


183 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“ 'Shut in from all the world without. 

We sat the clean-winged hearth about/ ” 

quoted Mother significantly, and at this 
hint Aleck and Eleanor began to draw 
the curtains close. 

“Not the front ones,” begged Father 
quickly. 

This was the subject of many amiable 
altercations in the family; for Mother did 
love to be shut in close and cosy, when the 
darkness fell, and Father wanted the cur- 
tains up so that any poor traveller, be- 
lated in the dark, might see the brightness 
of their fireside. 

“Just think what it would mean to some 
wanderer, lost in the night, to look in 
upon a scene like this,” urged Father, as 
Aleck stayed his hand. “Besides, we 
should not place our candles under a 
bushel,” and Father smiled brightly, as he 
helped the little girls back to their places. 

184 


FATHER S SERMON 


“Our light shines ’way out down the 
road,” observed Aleck, peering through 
the frosty panes. 

“ ‘So shines a good deed in a naughty 
world,’ ” murmured Willis, who just at 
this time ate and drank and breathed 
Shakespeare, having received a modest 
set of his own for Christmas. 

“Were you ever lost out in the dark and 
snow, Father?” ventured Eleanor, taking 
a lowly seat on the cushioned wood-box 
near his elbow, so as to lose none of the 
thrilling parts in case of a story. 

Father paused awhile in thought, for 
the waiting faces, full of eagerness and 
anticipation, plainly demanded a narra- 
tion and one worth while. 

“I never was,” he finally answered 
slowly, “and that spoils a good story, 
perhaps; but I heard the other day of a 
most remarkable adventure with wolves, 
185 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


which I really think could take its place. 
It occurred in a foreign country, I be- 
lieve.” 

Here Father paused again to think of 
a properly thrilling beginning. Eleanor 
drew as near as the edge of the wood-box 
would allow, and Aleck’s eyes glistened 
with anticipation. Wolves! That was 
the story for him. With his interest in 
nature and wild life, any story about ani- 
mals was delightful. He was as yet un- 
decided whether to be a hunter of big 
game in the Rocky Mountains or a keeper 
of the Zoo in Emporia, although he in- 
clined to the former calling, because 
Christmas had brought him Uncle Hal’s 
present of a gun. 

“I cannot make this tale very vivid,” 
began Father at last, “for the man who 
told it to me was a foreigner, and did not 
make all parts of it quite clear; but the 
story runs something like this: 

186 


FATHER S SERMON 


“There was a poor wood-cutter, who, 
after finishing his day’s work in a deep 
forest at some distance from his cottage, 
started back home at the beginning of the 
long winter’s twilight. When he had 
walked quite a way, the sound of wolves 
was borne to him over the snow, and after 
stopping several times to listen, he finally 
decided that although they seemed to be 
but a small pack, their course lay between 
him and his own cottage; and that since 
he was unarmed, it would be best for him 
to seek the nearest place of safety, hop- 
ing that the wolves might pass on with- 
out scenting his track, or that some one 
would soon pass along over this same 
road, in whose company the homeward 
journey might be made in safety. 

“The nearest refuge, except in the 
branches of the surrounding forest-trees, 
was in the loft of a deserted cottage a 
short distance ahead, towards which he 
187 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


now hastened. The cottage itself af- 
forded no safety, as it lacked both doors 
and windows, but the loft was still in fair 
condition, and the ladder by which it was 
reached had lost but a round or two, so 
that he quickly gained the safe seclusion 
of the upper floor. 

“Once here he felt secure, being sure 
that the wolves could never climb the lad- 
der, and that it would only be a question 
of time before some of his neighbors 
would miss him and come to seek him. 
While considering this, he was surprised 
to hear the sound of a faint cry outside 
the cottage. It in no way resembled that 
of a wolf, and besides, the yell of the pack 
was still far distant. This came from 
near at hand, and seemed to be approach- 
ing the lower door. 

“Nearer and nearer it came. Then he 
heard a rustling and a rattling sound be- 
low, and there appeared in the doorway 
188 


FATHERS SERMON 


the form of a great gray wolf, carrying 
in her mouth a bundle from which the 
sounds issued. The bundle was well 
wrapped in a woolen cloth, but it moved 
as if alive, and the sound that came from 
it was undoubtedly the cry of a human 
child.” 

Father paused here, for the twins had 
started violently and said, “Oh!” But 
as each one had instantly put a hand to 
her mouth to prevent further interrup- 
tion, the tale was resumed. 

“Looking cautiously around for a pos- 
sible enemy and sniffing the air, in which 
doubtless the taint of an intruder was evi- 
dent, the wolf entered, as though familiar 
with the place ; and going to the farthest, 
darkest corner, she laid the burden down, 
and made an attempt to cover it with the 
leaves which the wind had whirled into the 
floorless interior. The beast then paused, 
growling faintly, for it must have been 
189 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


very evident to her keen senses that some- 
thing had entered, although there was 
nothing to be seen now. Showing her 
teeth to the invisible intruder in an angry, 
evil grin, she trotted out the way she had 
come in. 

“Now that the bundle was left quiet, 
the cries gave place to a sorrowful whim- 
per; and the man, looking down from 
above, was convinced that wrapped in the 
faded shawl was some one’s beloved baby, 
and that he had been sent here to rescue 
it. As quickly as he could, lest the 
wicked wolf were lurking just outside, he 
crept to the ladder, and climbed down, 
tiptoed through the rustling leaves below, 
gathered the half -smothered little object 
into his arms, and scurried back into the 
loft almost in a flash. 

“As he regained his place of safety, the 
woodsman heard the note of the distant 
pack change and then grow louder. 

190 


FATHER S SERMON 


Plainly they were coming towards the old 
house. The little one had stopped whim- 
pering, as if it preferred its new guardian. 
The man was glad of this, for if the sav- 
age beast knew of the whereabouts of her 
vanished prey, she would sit on guard for 
hours or even days, leaving them no 
chance of escape, unless help came from 
without. 

“The wolves were evidently at hand 
now, for although the yelp of the pack 
had ceased, their impatient snaps and ex- 
cited panting could be heard distinctly. 
In a moment they entered, four in all, 
three new ones behind, and the large one 
that had brought the child, leading the 
way. Without hesitating she went into 
the dark corner and dug into the nest of 
leaves, failing, of course, to find her 
booty. Again and again she dug down 
into various heaps of leaves, while the 
waiting pack, seemingly a group of in- 
191 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


vited guests, grew more angry and fero- 
cious with every second’s delay. 

“At last the gray wolf gave up. 
Abashed and humiliated, with drooping 
tail and ears, she attempted to explain 
that in some way or other, which she 
could not possibly understand, the supper 
she had promised them had gone. The 
protests of the disappointed wolves soon 
grew into a wild argument, which more 
quickly became a desperate battle raged 
in the small limits of the old cabin. In a 
few moments the combatants took to the 
open, snapping and snarling furiously as 
they went. 

“The sound of the noisy strife had died 
away in the distance, and night had 
fallen, when the woodsman heard shouts 
and guns in the forest near at hand, and 
peering through the cracks of the loft, he 
could see lanterns and torches approach- 
ing. It was a party of his neighbors out 
192 


FATHER S SERMON 


searching, not for him, but for a baby 
stolen from its mother while she was at 
work just outside her cottage door. 

“ ‘It was stolen by a great gray wolf/ 
cried the leader of the party, a stranger 
to the rescued wood-chopper, ‘and if you 
have a heart and soul in your body, you 
will come with us to find it/ 

“ ‘I will come/ returned the man, step- 
ping forward into the broad circle of 
light cast by their torches, ‘not to seek, 
but to restore, since God has sent the 
child into my hands/ And he lifted the 
precious bundle, and started to unloose 
the wraps, that all might see what he had 
found. 

“When he had drawn the folds aside, 
and looked down into the baby face, how- 
ever, he found that he held in his arms, 
cast into his rescuing hands by a wonder- 
ful Providence, none other than his own 
and only child/’ 


193 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“And the wolf didn’t hurt it any? 
Never?” cried the twins with one voice, 
so much excited that they quite forgot 
that in a formal company of elders chil- 
dren should be seen, but not heard. 

“Never,” said Father, looking down at 
his little girls; and as he looked, they saw 
in the depths of his gray eyes that he 
knew, Father knew, though he had never 
spoken, of that far-away and half-forgot- 
ten crime, when they had run away and 
left little Brother for the wolves or any- 
thing else which might happen along 
while they were negligent. 

And as their little heads began to droop 
sorrowfully before Father’s earnest gaze, 
they saw something else which gave them 
courage to lift them again. Father un- 
derstood. He realized that it was not 
from any spirit of naughtiness that they 
had left Edgar alone, but from mere 
childish carelessness, for which they were 
194 


FATHERS SERMON 


very sorry, and that they would never do 
it again. 

“Did I ever tell you about the time 
when Professor Crawford was chased up 
a tree by his own cross cow?” said Father 
to the boys, relieving the situation with 
an abrupt change of subject, as he drew 
the little girls safer with kind, forgiving 
arms. 

And then he told them a comical story 
of how the old Professor, coming up from 
a morning dip in the lake, clad in the 
briefest of bathing suits, met his own 
cow, — a bovine of crisp and uncertain 
temper, — who, not recognizing her owner 
in this chilly-looking person in abbrevi- 
ated costume, forced him to take refuge 
in a big willow-tree until rescued by one 
of the students. 

When they had finished laughing at 
that, he had told them other stories of odd 
people and queer adventures. Many 
195 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

people enjoyed Mr. Bailey’s witty and 
amusing stories, but it was only now and 
then that he had a spare evening to charm 
and delight his own family. It was quite 
like being at a party, the twins thought, 
especially when Father, tired of doing all 
the entertaining, proposed that Mother 
do her part, and led her to the piano, 
where she sang “Bonnie Doon” and 
“Kathleen O’Moore” in the sweet con- 
tralto voice so seldom used now except in 
church and to put Baby Edgar to sleep. 

“Aline’s turn next,” suggested Mother, 
when she had finished; and with Herbert 
to turn the music, Aline played for a time 
the gay music that all the children en- 
joyed. 

“It’s everybody’s turn now,” Aline 
said, a little later, and played the prelude 
to “Ring the Bell, Watchman,” the 
boys’ favorite. 

As they all gathered round the piano 
196 


FATHERS SERMON 


to sing, the twins joined in with a happy 
little pipe, not caring, so long as they 
could make a “merry noise,” whether they 
were in tune or not. When the heart is 
light and young, what matters a half-tone 
up or down in the key? And as they 
sang on and on, Father’s flute struck in 
with an accompaniment which lent the 
crowning glory to the song. Truly this 
was better than any party. 

But soon, all too soon, in the midst of 
this delight, there came a pause. At a 
word from Mother, Aleck brought the Bi- 
ble and Prayer Book, and a reverent si- 
lence fell over the room, while Father 
carefully found his place. Slowly and 
distinctly, in order that every one might 
understand and heed, he read the even- 
ing’s chapter; and then, closing his book 
and looking thoughtfully around the cir- 
cle of intent faces, he preached his little 


sermon. 


197 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Be ye kindly affectioned one to an- 
other with brotherly love,” began Father, 
and although he did not “holler and hit 
the pulpit,” as Eliza had expressed it, his 
quiet voice spoke truths which his chil- 
dren never forgot. 

He told them that while God required 
us to love one another. He had made it 
easier for every one by placing them in 
little groups or families where this duty 
could first be exercised. That this love 
of home and family was a paramount 
duty is shown where it says, “If ye love 
not your brother, whom ye have seen, how 
then can ye love God, whom ye have not 
seen?” It was by this exercise of broth- 
erly and sisterly love and of the kindly 
courtesies of home that individuals were 
fitted for contact with the wider world of 
men and society at large. 

And even when home was left behind, 
affairs and duties of the world taken up, 
198 


FATHER S SERMON 


and newer ties acquired, the ties of near 
kinship were still binding. Children of 
one earthly father, by the command of our 
Heavenly One, owed to each other a life- 
long allegiance; for it is written: “Whoso 
hath this world’s goods, and seeth his 
brother have need, and shutteth up his 
bowels of compassion from him, how 
dwelleth the love of God in him?” 

And then Father had prayed, even 
more earnestly than he had spoken, for 
love and unity in his little flock, and that 
they might be kept safe and pure through 
all the temptations of this naughty world. 
The short service closed with the Twenty- 
third Psalm, sung without accompani- 
ment, since they all knew it so well; and 
the baritone and tenor of the boys, the 
sweet treble of Mother and the girls, and 
Father’s mellow bass, blended sweetly as 
they sang: 

“Yea, though I walk through the valley 
199 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil 
for thou art with me.” 

By this time it was nine o’clock, the 
time to go to bed. The little girls went 
cheerfully, although it was hard to leave 
the bright circle, which had not yet begun 
to disband, hut a fresh resolve to strive 
for the unity and happiness of the dear 
home had come to them, as well as to their 
elders. So they said their good-nights 
cheerfully, and climbed the long stair to 
the little white room without a grumble, 
even though it was Eleanor and not 
Mother who came with them. 

Soon after this Fred and Aleck took a 
last look at the supply of wood for the 
morning; Herbert began to cover the 
fires, and Willis to light the small hand- 
lamps for the different rooms. It was a 
long proceeding to get so large a family 
off to bed, but at last they all said good- 
night, and separated; and soon after- 
200 


FATHERS SERMON 


wards one by one the lights went out, and 
silence settled over the household. 

Then in the quiet darkness the snow 
laid a soft, fresh coat upon the roof be- 
neath which they slept quietly and peace- 
fully; and dreamed happily. 

In the early morning they waked to 
look again upon a world all white and cold 
without, all warm and jovial within; to 
spend again the busy days, the pleasant 
evenings, and the peaceful nights, for six 
successive days; and then, the holidays 
over, Father went back to his ministra- 
tions, and Aline to school, both by the 
same train. 

It was still snowy, but the paths were 
broken, so the twins had the delight of 
trudging with Aleck down the long drive 
to hold open the high, swinging gate, 
while the spirited colts driven by Fred 
dashed through with the comfortable 
double-sleigh. 


201 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Good-by,” called Father, touching his 
hat to his little girls, just as if they were 
grown-up ladies. 

“Good-by! Good-by!” called the twins, 
waving their hands, a twinkle of red mit- 
tens, until the sleigh with its jingling bells 
had quite disappeared from sight and 
hearing beyond the big oaks far down at 
the turn in the road. 

“Father will come again in a week,” said 
Aleck, barring the big gate, and so he did, 
and again in a week after that; but the old 
hurried days and the busy evenings came 
once more and the week when Father had 
time for long talks, for pleasant stories, 
and for earnest sermons for his own chil- 
dren grew to be only a memory. Yet this 
was a happy, blessed memory, and in the 
years to come when Father slept his last 
long sleep, it was a strong power to aid 
Mother’s gentle hand in guiding her flock 
in the paths wherein they should walk. 

202 


CHAPTER IX 

A NEW SISTER 

N OW shortly after the holidays a 
very strange thing happened. 
One morning Mother called Eliza 
into her room and told her that very 
soon Herbert would be married, and then 
they would have Miss Bessie James for a 
new sister. But Eliza was to promise 
not to tell any one or even speak a word 
about it, for Herbert did not like to have 
his affairs talked about, as that made him 
very uncomfortable. 

Eliza was quite willing to promise this. 
The joy and importance of having a se- 
cret all her very own was quite enough 
for her, without the common satisfaction 
of speech, and all the rest of the day she 
went about with her mouth puckered very 
203 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


tight to show how safe, how very safe, 
the wonderful secret was in her keeping. 
She was so taken up with thus locking her 
lips over her own care of the secret that 
she did not notice that Nell’s lips were 
puckered, too, until the next morning. 
Then Eliza, in trying to get Edgar’s 
buggy up on the veranda, said in her prim 
grown-up way, 

“I need as-sist-ance.” 

And Nell laughed, and replied, 

“I thought you were going to say you 
needed a sister,” and then they had looked 
at each other, and each saw that the other 
knew, though they had neither told a 
word. 

After all it was more fun to share a se- 
cret, even though you must not talk about 
it; and the twins had many jolly laughs 
over just saying, “Sister, sister,” in a 
tiny little sing-song voice. 

But Fred was dreadful. It was clear 
204 


A NEW SISTER 


enough that he had not promised any- 
thing. He spoke of the secret right out 
loud, and even dared to laugh before Her- 
bert, — Herbert, who had such sensitive 
feelings, and towards whom the twins 
preserved a tender and pitying mien, as 
though he were some frail and beloved one 
condemned to an early martyrdom. But 
try as they would, they could not check 
Fred. Eliza might hem until her throat 
was quite sore, and Nell might shake her 
disapproving head until she was dizzy. It 
did no good. 

“Hello, Herb!” Fred would say. 
“How’s the pulse to-day? Cheer up, old 
man! ’Twill all be over soon,” and so 
on every day in the most inconsiderate, 
not to say, immodest manner. 

And Herbert was so patient. If it 
had been possible to imagine it of so sensi- 
tive a soul, the twins might have said he 
liked it. But the small sisters heard in 
205 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

disapproving silence. Didn’t they know 
that when a person is going to be mar- 
ried, he feels bad enough as it is, and you 
must not tease or gossip, or in any way 
refer to his unpleasant position? And 
they did not, though once Eliza came 
very near it. 

“Bear up old man, only ten days 
more!” Fred said one morning just after 
breakfast. 

Something in the phrase, — its referring 
to an approaching event within a short 
limit of time, and its mystery of prepara- 
tion, — made Eliza think of Thanksgiv- 
ing, with its victim in solitary prepara- 
tion for a great event in which it was to 
be the sole sacrifice. 

“Oh, Fred!” she asked in apprehensive 
tones, “will they give him plenty to eat?” 

“Don’t know,” returned Fred, slap- 
ping his thigh with a great roar of mirth 
at this unconscious jest, “y ou can’t ’most 
206 


A NEW SISTER 

always tell. Herb has to take his chances 
on that.” 

This was the nearest the twins came to 
telling; and you really could not say that 
Eliza actually did mention the forbidden 
subject, although, of course, it was peril- 
ously close. 

And because they had been so very 
careful, another delightful thing came to 
pass. One afternoon, after a long dis- 
cussion with Willis, Mrs. Bailey had 
called the little twins to come and be 
wrapped up. She told them that they 
were to go to Kirksville with Willis in 
the buggy to buy a wedding present for 
Herbert. 

“The wedding will be very soon now,” 
said Mother, tying the little tippets un- 
der the round chins, “and of course Her- 
bert wants his little sisters to see him mar- 
ried, and surely every little guest would 
want to bring a wedding present.” 

207 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


Of course they wanted to get Herbert 
a present. Dear, kind Herbert, who had 
been so patient with Fred’s teasing, and 
who was so good as to invite them to his 
wedding! On such a wonderful errand 
it was not strange that the bright, cold 
day looked very beautiful to the warmly 
wrapped little sisters, and that every bit 
of the ride over the crunching ice and 
purring snow was a joy and a delight. 

At last they reached town, and Willis, 
hurried with many errands, took them 
into kind Mr. Buckner’s general store, 
and announced their errand. 

“Something very nice for a present,” 
repeated Mr. Buckner, reflectively. 
“About what style and what price?” 

“It doesn’t make any difference,” said 
Willis, briskly. “Let them buy what 
they want, and put it in our bill, and 
don’t advise or influence them. It must 
be absolutely their own choice,” and Wil- 
208 


A NEW SISTER 


lis hurried out to see about other things, 
and left the twins and Mr. Buckner, all 
three somewhat puzzled and embarrassed, 
alone together. 

“How would a nice, easy rocking-chair 
do?” suggested the store-keeper, indicat- 
ing some brilliantly varnished rockers sus- 
pended from the ceiling. 

The twins looked disapprovingly. 
They were quite too brown and not shiny 
enough. They knew how a present 
should look. It should have a beautiful 
color, and should glitter like a glass ball 
on a Christmas tree; but it should be use- 
ful, quite useful. 

“How about one of these pretty rugs?” 
asked Mr. Buckner, making a second ef- 
fort, seeing that his first brought no re- 
sponse. 

The twins considered the display of 
rugs hung on a clothes-line across the 
front of the store. Here were some beau- 
209 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


tiful, even gorgeous colors, and rugs were 
certainly useful. One representing a pair 
of elephantine kittens sporting with a 
mountainous ball appealed to them 
strongly, but the shininess which belonged 
to a “truly” present was lacking, and the 
twins moved on. 

“How about a picture, a real handsome 
framed picture?” urged Mr. Buckner, 
and again the would-be purchasers paused 
in thought. 

Here was shininess, and color, too, in 
spots. They were looking admiringly at 
a gorgeous robin picking at a particularly 
large and luscious cherry, when at the 
other side of the store, beckoning at them 
from a high shelf, they saw The Present . 

From the moment they first set eyes on 
it, they neither hesitated nor doubted. 
The Present was bright, and it was beau- 
tiful, their own eyes told them that; and 
even dissenting Mr. Buckner could not 
210 


A NEW SISTER 


deny that it was useful. So when they 
were set down on the counter, — fortu- 
nately there was a pair of them, a present 
from each twin, — and were found on 
close inspection to be even more enthrall- 
ing than when viewed from beneath the 
high shelf, the small girls made their ir- 
revocable decision. 

Mr. Buckner might tempt them with 
things more common and nearer at hand ; 
but the twins were determined to have 
their present, at first mildly, afterwards 
stubbornly, and finally when they showed 
signs of becoming tearfully insistent, Mr. 
Buckner made hasty preparations to wrap 
up the objects of their unalterable choice. 

Just then Willis returned. 

“Bought your present, twinnies?” he 
asked, and the triumphant shoppers nod- 
ded their heads with their lips firmly 
closed, rolling their eyeballs about with 
an effect of the most mysterious secrecy. 

211 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


“Something in this line, I suppose,” re- 
marked Willis, addressing Mr. Buckner, 
his eyes roving over the large display of 
china and glass ware. 

“Yes, sir,” answered the store keeper 
in somewhat muffled tones, as he carefully 
wrapped and re-wrapped the precious 
parcel, “something in fine china. They 
took their own choice, just as you said.” 

“But you sha’n’t see it till Ma does,” 
said Eliza, closing her mouth until she ap- 
peared to have no lips at all; and Nell, 
shaking her head till her face looked a 
mere blur, re-echoed the sentiment: 

“Nobuddy shall see it till Ma does.” 

So Willis went out for the horses, and 
then Mr. Buckner brought out the pres- 
ent, disguised by wrappers until it looked 
like a huge hall; and, placing it carefully 
under the seat, he jumped the little girls 
into the buggy, one on each side of Willis, 
where they exchanged delighted punches 
212 


A NEW SISTER 


across his patient back, and overflowed 
with little ecstatic giggles on all the swift 
way homeward. 

Willis was not considered in the least 
bit curious; but notwithstanding the very 
thick pair of mittens he had worn on the 
drive, it seemed impossible for him to get 
his hands satisfactorily warm, until Moth- 
er’s careful fingers had undone string 
after string and wrapping after wrapping, 
down to the very heart of the precious 
bundle. 

“There!” declared the twins. “Aren’t 
they lovely! We choosed ’em ourselves.” 

Divested of its wrappings, glowing 
with pink, and glittering with gold, stood 
the present which the little sisters had se- 
lected to aid their brother in launching 
his untried bark upon the troublous sea 
of matrimony, — a pair of pink and gold 
shaving-mugs, extra large size. 

“See how shiny!” commented Nell, put- 
213 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ting a fat hand in the cunning little shelf 
of her contribution. 

“It’s so useful,” added Eliza, investi- 
gating the dear little cave in hers. 

“Willis !” said Mrs. Bailey in reproach- 
ful tones; but Willis gave a stare of un- 
comprehending innocence. 

“What’s wrong, Mother?” he argued. 
“They’re quite unique. No fear of fur- 
ther duplicates of these gifts. Just let 
the twinnies label them in their own hand- 
writing and language, and they will be 
the center of the evening’s attraction.” 

So when Willis had time he found a 
large, smooth white card, and, putting in 
his own holder a new pen which scratched 
and spluttered in a most delightful way, 
he started the little sisters to writing the 
“label” he desired. For a few moments 
the children worked busily, taking turns 
with each word so that it might be their 
joint work. 


214 


A NEW SISTER 


“Do you spell brother with a ‘u’ or an 
V?” inquired Eliza anxiously, beginning 
her second turn. 

After informing them that there was a 
popular prejudice in favor of “o,” Willis 
withdrew his assistance and the twins 
toiled on perspiringly alone. 

“There, I hope that suits ’em,” said 
Nell, straightening herself with a heavy 
sigh, when the final word was laborously 
penned. 

And Willis, coming over to look, read 
as follows: 






And with this setting, placed on a large 


215 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


table beneath the hanging lamp, the 
twins’ unusual tokens of affection cer- 
tainly attracted much attention. 

The great event, which all these lesser 
ones had but faintly foreshadowed, came 
at last. It was to be in the evening, of 
course, as the days at this time of the year 
were so short that they really gave time 
for nothing; and Aline drove out for the 
occasion with Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Hal, 
and the cousins. 

The little chapel was filled to its ut- 
most capacity, and to make all the space 
possible, the sliding doors into the Sun- 
day-school rooms were pushed back to 
their farthest limit. In this part of the 
building the seats were smaller, and as 
far as possible, these seats were given to 
children; and here, far away from the 
older members of their family, some care- 
less usher, not knowing the possibilities 
of such a combination, placed the Bailey 
216 


A NEW SISTER 

twins, alone and together. This arrange- 
ment was very pleasing to the small sis- 
ters. It gave them a delightful sense of 
maturity and freedom to sit so far from 
Aline’s warning eye or Eleanor’s admon- 
ishing elbow. They sat up quite straight 
in their delight, and stretched their necks 
as far as they would go. 

“I wonder why Herbert has it so dark 
in here,” observed Nell presently in a 
gusty whisper, which was audible for a 
radius of at least six pews, giving the im- 
pression that among the other duties and 
responsibilities of the harassed bride- 
groom, the work of janitor pressed heav- 

iiy- 

“I guess he didn’t want anybody to see 
him very plain,” returned Eliza in the 
same tone. “Getting married is a risky 
thing, Fred told him, and I guess Her- 
bert is beginning to feel pretty bad over 
it.” 


217 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


Here the music began, and the twins 
were silent for a time, watching the bridal 
party enter and take their places. Then 
the minister began to read the service, and 
the profound silence extended to the ut- 
termost corners of the church. 

“I, Elizabeth Caroline, take thee, Her- 
bert, ’’ said the minister’s prompting 
voice. 

“ ’Lizbeth Caroline? Who’s Herbert 
marrying now?” rose Eliza’s protesting 
stage-whisper in her distant corner, with 
an inflection which implied that she was 
not surprised at the mere fact of his mar- 
rying, that being a common occurrence, 
but only that he had now secured a new 
accomplice. “I thought he was going to 
get married with Miss Bessie.” 

“Perhaps when he came to tell her 
about it, she found she had to do house- 
cleaning or spring sewing, and couldn’t,” 
218 


A NEW SISTER 


returned Nell wisely. “I don’t know any 
’Lizbeth Caroline.” 

“Neither do I,” said Eliza, rolling up 
her eyes to assist her mind in the search 
for this strange name among the list of 
her acquaintances. “I’m so sorry for 
Herbert. It would be so much nicer for 
him to get married with somebody he was 
’quainted with, than just a stranger.” 

“With this ring I thee wed, and with all 
my worldly goods I thee endow,” con- 
tinued the minister, prompting Herbert’s 
low tones. 

“That means Polly and Jim,” ex- 
plained one of the small commentators in 
the farther end of the church, “and the 
( saddle an’ bridle an’ harness an’ plow 
an’ — ” 

“I know,” broke in Nell’s excited whis- 
per, “Fred said so. And it means the 
broorow up in the boys’ room, that’s Her- 
219 


THE BAILEY TWINS 

bert’s, an’ the rocker with the broken arm, 
an’ — ” 

Just what further embarrassing details 
of Herbert’s dowry might have been di- 
vulged for the benefit of a small and de- 
lighted audience, will never be known; 
for just at this point Eleanor, pink to the 
tips of her ears, rose from her seat six 
pews ahead, and stealing noiselessly back 
took forcible possession of a seat between 
the voluble twins. 

Soon afterwards the “marrying” was 
over. The music swelled to a beautiful 
triumphant march, and the wedding- 
party came down the aisle, Herbert look- 
ing pale, but very happy; and it was 
Miss Bessie he had married, after all. 
Dr. Smith never could remember names. 
He was always calling Nell, Eliza, and 
Eliza, Nell. 

And after Herbert and Miss Bessie 
came Fred and the nice girl who had 
220 


A NEW SISTER 


helped them when the surrey tipped over, 
and then came a great many other peo- 
ple, among them Father and Mother. 
And then they all went out and got into 
the surrey, and went to Miss Bessie’s 
house, — only “everybody called her Mis’ 
Bailey, now, and laughed ’cause that was 
Mother’s name, — and there they had san’- 
wiches an’ ice-cream, an’ cake an’ ice- 
cream, an’ more cake an’ ice-cream,” until 
Mother said: 

“That’s enough, children; you’ll be sick 
if you take any more,” and then they all 
went home. 

That is, all but Herbert, for he had 
gone off with some one who was not even 
a member of his family, but who was more 
to him than all his relations, and who, now T 
that he had claimed her before the world, 
seemed a part of his very being. But the 
twins did not understand this, and only 
felt it a sad thing that one of them, even 
221 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


though it was Herbert, the oldest and 
best able to stand alone, had gone out 
from under the safe shelter of Father’s 
roof. 


222 


CHAPTER X 

MORE WEDDING BELLS 

A FTER the great halt in the onward 
procession of events caused by that 
momentous affair, the wedding, 
the days sped on as before, busier and 
fuller than ever; since now there was Her- 
bert’s cottage down below the hill to be 
visited at least once a week. There, 
crowned with a new dignity, surrounded 
by bright and beautiful adornments, 
among which the twins’ wonderful gift, 
explained by its accompanying placard, 
occupied a very conspicuous place, Sister 
Bessie was keeping a kind of magnified 
doll-house, in which the twins felt an 
eager and sympathetic interest. 

But when in the midst of other mira- 
cles which she daily performed with the 
223 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


help of her smooth new kettles and beau- 
tiful, shiny pans, Sister Bessie took a bag 
of scraps which Mother sent down to her, 
old mementoes of various calico dresses 
long since passed away, and transformed 
them into a wonderful kaleidoscope of 
colored patchwork, — basket, star, and sun- 
burst patterns, — the admiration of the 
twins transcended all bounds. Then 
this dear new sister, who had ideas of her 
own concerning waste of time and the 
training of children, had offered to teach 
them this marvelous art of cutting cloth 
into strange, scrappy little shapes and 
uniting them by some mysterious process 
into a new and beautiful whole. 

Most certainly they wished to learn, 
and since Bessie told them that when 
completed, as it would be in time, such a 
work of art might constitute a present for 
some member of their family, they en- 
tered upon the practice of this new craft 
224 


MORE WEDDING BELLS 


with fevered enthusiasm. Eagerly they 
shed their lifeblood in tiny spots of gore 
dotted here and there over the crowded 
little patches in places where the uncer- 
tain fabric gave too readily, allowing the 
passage of the sharp needle with unex- 
pected suddenness; and patiently they 
flayed themselves in infinitesimal portions, 
as they sewed up small scraps of their 
forefingers into the very substance of their 
work. But they persevered, under Sis- 
ter Bessie’s encouragement; and they 
progressed, although the road to final suc- 
cess was sometimes hard and sorrowful. 

For spring time was coming now, first 
with its pussy willows nodding over the 
bank of the pebbly stream, now released 
from its thrall of ice, then with the long, 
drooping catkins heavy with honey-like 
perfume, all of which had to be harvested 
in greater or less profusion to adorn 
pitchers, jars, bottles, — anything which 
225 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


Mother could spare. Who could turn 
aside from these dear enticements for 
even the most beautiful of patches, even 
though wise Sister Bessie had kept the 
most gorgeous pinks and brilliant blues 
for just this emergency? And then the 
wild flowers began shyly to don their new 
spring costumes, and come forth, one by 
one; the hepatica, sweet in her delicate 
new lavender lawn; the blue bells, bril- 
liant in soft pink and blue; the spring 
beauties in lovely pink-sprigged light cal- 
icoes; and then, the “boys and girls” in 
their dear, cunning little white trousers; 
each a separate and pressing invitation 
to wander forth by wood and stream; but 
even yet, the patches made a real, though 
somewhat uncertain progress. 

And then summer came, and with it, 
Aline, — Aline, the same kind sister, yet 
somehow strange and different. With 
the passage of days this strangeness dis- 
226 


MORE WEDDING BELLS 


appeared, but the difference remained, 
showing how a bad practice, once indulged 
in, may in time become a fixed and unal- 
terable habit. Aline, who last summer 
had gone riding with a strange person 
and left her little sisters behind in spite 
of their outcries and protests, now did it 
habitually and as a matter of course, each 
time followed by beseeching wails to “wait 
and le’ me come, too.” 

Mr. Rogers was at the bottom of it all. 
Every few days he appeared with a new 
and specious excuse for taking Aline 
away, — a school meeting in Fielding, a 
drill in View Point, or a call from Aunt 
Cynthia, who seemed to be in league 
against the twins. And each time the 
small, trusting sisters were hoodwinked. 

“I believe I left a parcel on the bench in 
the summer-house,” Mr. Rogers would 
say. “You may have it, if you will run 
out after it;” and while there investigat- 
227 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ing what proved to be a box of delicious 
cracker- j ack, they beard the familiar rat- 
tle of wheels, and Aline was gone beyond 
the reach of their wildest shriek. 

Or Aline would remember something 
she wanted from upstairs, something from 
the upper bureau drawer, where they were 
seldom allowed to look, and while there — 
again the wheels and the grief-stricken 
cries. 

“Wonder Aline wouldn’t chloroform 
those youngsters!” remarked Fred one 
Sunday afternoon, as he and Willis 
watched the light buggy disappearing 
down the road, while from the room across 
the hall came in despairing wails: 

“Oh, Ma-a-a! Make Aline wait for us. 
Oh, Ma-a, mayn’t we go, too?” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” retorted Willis, 
perversely. 

Willis was apt to be perverse in these 
days. Bound by environment and lack 
228 


MORE WEDDING BELLS 


:>f opportunity to the uncongenial duties 
of the farm, he had found in his sister his 
ciiief solace and his inspiration to study 
in iependently for a career in the great 
world without; and in these new develop- 
ments he saw a threat, a possibility, of 
losing Aline, on whom he depended for 
comiadeship and encouragement. No 
wonder he half sympathized with the 
twins in their revolt against this new or- 
der of things, and felt that if it would do 
any good, he, too, would cry aloud: 

“Oh, Mother, must she? Shall she? 
Oh, Mother, don’t let her!” 

But Mr. Rogers had come and come 
again, and one day Mother told the little 
sisters that he was coming there to see 
Aline, and had asked Father to be allowed 
to marry her. 

The scorn of the twins was withering 
to behold. 

“Him marry!” sneered Eliza, evidently 
229 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


in league with the new movement to shut 
out all ineligibles from among matrimo 
nial candidates. “He can’t get married. 
He’s — he’s — got whiskers.” 

“Course not, with whiskers,” chimed in 
Nell, repeating the same unanswerable 
argument, and clinching it with another 
all her own. “ ’Sides, we don’t want 
him.” 

And so the twins ranged themselves in 
unalterable opposition to this candidate 
for Aline’s hand, until Mr. Rogers, see- 
ing that their unfriendly attitude really 
pained Aline, attempted with the confi- 
dence of one who had won many suc- 
cesses, to plead his own cause. Under 
the gaze of those round hazel eyes, w r hich 
seemed to bore into his very soul, he must 
inevitably have faltered or broken down, 
had there been any stain on his escut- 
cheon, any flaw in his good intentions; 

230 


MORE WEBBING BELLS 


but there was none, so he stated his case 
handsomely and finished by saying, 

“So now you must be good girls, and 
give me Aline, and take me for your own 
big brother.” 

“We can’t spare Aline,” returned Nell 
earnestly, “she’s our only big sister, and 
we just must have her.” 

“And we have lots of brothers already, 
as many as we can keep,” broke in Eliza 
coldly. “Fred and Aleck’s room is just 
full, and Herbert took his bed with him.” 

“And we need Aline,” continued Nell, 
returning to the charge, for Mr. Rogers 
showed no signs of surrender or defeat. 

“So do I need Aline, little twinnies,” 
replied Mr. Rogers ; and in his deep voice 
was a note of earnestness which thrilled 
their contrary little hearts in spite of 
themselves, “need her so much that all my 
successes will count for naught, all my 
231 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ambition fade away, my work come to 
nothingness, and my plans for the future 
crumble and fall, unless I have her by my 
side to help and inspire me onward.” 

“Well, if you need her all that, I guess 
we might spare her a little,” hesitated 
Nell, awed by the wide-spread desolation 
threatened by their small opposition, “but 
you’ll have to bring her back in time for 
fall sewing.” 

And Eliza, knowing that with Nell’s 
surrender she, too, must yield, did so, add- 
ing shrewdly: 

“I guess you must think Aline’s pretty 
smart, if just not having her’ll make all 
that trouble.” 

Now that this opposition was removed, 
preparations for the wedding, already be- 
gun, sped forward at a rapid rate. Miss 
Ramsay and Aline sewed early and late. 
Neighbors and friends ran in with dainty 
bits of needlework, and Aunt Cynthia 
232 


MORE WEBBING BELLS 


drove out frequently to display bargains 
which she had secured for Aline’s ben- 
efit. 

And last and best of all, though pre- 
served as a profound secret, which all 
might read who ran, unless they were som- 
nambulists, the twins were incited by Sis- 
ter Bessie to a tremendous burst of speed 
to finish the wonderful piece of patch- 
work for a wedding present. Then in- 
deed did the gore spatter over the little 
patches, not from clumsiness, for the twins 
were getting to be fairly clever little 
seamstresses, but from the speed of their 
endeavors. And for the same reason, 
they sewed their little thumbs and fingers 
into the material so many times that their 
small digits became quite sore. But the 
beautiful piece of work grew nearer and 
nearer completion, till finally it was quite 
done, and Sister Bessie sewed the blocks 
together on her sewing-machine, and then 
233 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


turned the gorgeous whole over to Mrs. 
Turner to be quilted in time for the wed- 
ding, now just ten days off. 

That day the twins went home from 
Herbert’s so full of delight it seemed they 
could not hold another drop, and then 
that very night Mother told them of a 
new joy which nearly lent wings to their 
happy hearts. Aline had chosen them to 
be her bridesmaids. Dear, kind Aline 
had chosen them! Not Eleanor, who 
was always so quiet and proper and kept 
her clothes clean; nor Aleck, who had 
grown so tall and handsome all at once, 
nor Fred, who had a teenty-weenty mus- 
tache now; nor Willis, who was her best 
friend and comrade; not one of these had 
she chosen, but just the little twins, to be 
her bridesmaids ! And they were to have 
white dresses and white shoes and stock- 
ings, and should carry little baskets filled 
with white flowers. Kind Aline, to think 
234 


MORE WEDDING BELLS 


of this! How glad they were they had 
not refused to let her get married! And 
forgetting the soreness of their little 
roughened fingers, the small sisters fell 
asleep, quite dazzled with the joys to 
come. 

And then the time sped on so fast that 
the hours fairly tripped over each other, 
but flew on all the same, until the morn- 
ing of the great day for which all these 
preparations were in progress, arrived at 
last. 

Then came for the twins a jumble of 
excitement and events, of which only a 
few pictures stood out for memory in the 
days to come. They remembered Aline, 
radiant in her soft white dress and shim- 
mering veil, with Mr. Rogers, pale with 
earnestness and joy, standing before the 
dear old chancel where Father himself, 
with Dr. Smith to help, performed the 
marriage ceremony. And Mother, pale, 
235 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


too, and almost tearful, stood forward 
with Willis to give the bride away. And 
in the midst of all this stood the little 
twins, a confused memory, laden with 
flowers, which they threw in the pathway 
of the bride and groom, as they preceded 
them. 

For once the twins performed their part 
without one single blunder, and to the 
lovely Mendelssohn March they had all 
passed out of the shadows of the old 
chapel into the glowing light of a glorious 
afternoon sun, and were driven swiftly 
home to the little reception held under 
the beautiful oaks in the yard before 
Aline’s home. 

Every one was there and every one was 
happy, — from Baby Edgar who, toddling 
on the broad gauge of infant locomotion, 
“goo-gooed” his satisfaction in the com- 
pany, the ice-cream, and the unusualness 
of things in general, to old Dr. Smith, 
236 



For once the twins performed their part without one 
single blunder.— Page 236. 



MORE WEDDING BELLS 


who, grasping the bridegroom’s hand in 
earnest congratulation, said, 

“Of course your experience will bear me 
out, my dear sir, in saying that Love, be- 
ing the white heat fusion of the Intellect, 
Sensibility, and Will — ” 

“Of course, of course,” answered Mr. 
Rogers, grasping the old student’s hand 
and the situation at the same time, “and 
my wife quite agrees with you; and Dr. 
Smith, if you will take a seat at this first 
table, the young ladies will serve you to 
refreshments right away.” 

And the good old doctor, who had 
planned a delightful discussion of the 
deep truths of Mental Science with the 
scholarly groom, quite unexpectedly 
found himself discussing, with no less 
pleasure, salad and ice-cream with a bevy 
of charming young ladies. 

Even Willis, who had looked forward 
to the event with dread, wore a beaming 
237 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


face, for Mr. Rogers in the midst of his 
own happiness, had a word of encourage- 
ment for him. 

“Cheer up, Brother!” he cried with a 
hearty hand-clasp. “Aline’s home is 
yours, remember, and when we come back, 
it’s Emporia and newspaper-work for you 
— if you like.” 

Like! When it was of that he had 
dreamed! Willis could only return the 
grip with a smile eloquent of thanks, for 
he could not trust himself to speak. 

But the merriest and happiest hours 
must end, and just as the sun was sink- 
ing, Aline and Mr. Rogers were driven 
away, as they had often driven before, 
down the long drive and out the wide 
front gate. They were not pursued this 
time by wails and protests of, “Mother, 
must she! Le’ me go, too.” For the 
twins had given their full and free con- 
238 


MORE WEDDING BELLS 


sent, and would not now go back on their 
word, though their hearts were very full. 

“I just don’t know what we’re going 
to do ’thout Aline,” sighed Nell to Wil- 
lis, as the carriage turned into the high- 
way. 

“Just play she’s gone away to teach,” 
said Willis with unexpected good cheer — 
Willis had been so contrary and uncer- 
tain of late. “And when vacation time 
comes, you can go and see her.” 

The twins drew a long breath, begin- 
ning to grasp the advantages of these new 
conditions. This, then, was what mar- 
riage meant, — new brothers and new sis- 
ters and then new homes to visit. 

Its wide possibilities were still under- 
going mental digestion at bedtime, when 
Mother had taken off their dainty dresses, 
and tucked them safely in their little bed. 

“An’ such a lot more brothers and sis- 
239 


THE BAILEY TWINS 


ters to come/’ mused Eliza. “There’s 
Willis an’ Fred, an’ bimeby, Aleck an’ 
Eleanor.” 

“An’ after that there’ll be you an’ me, 
an’ then Edgar,” went on Nell, taking a 
more extended flight into the distant fu- 
ture. “We’ve all got to find somebody 
to get married with, to get a brother an’ 
sister for the rest of us.” 

“I just don’t b’lieve I’ll get married,” 
announced Eliza, stirred by a sudden 
thought. “I’ll be like Miss Cates. She 
said to-day she felt a call to teach and not 
get married.” 

“Well,” returned Nell with great de- 
cision, “I’m going to get married like Bes- 
sie, and have a house an’ tin pans an’ 
chickens an’ a calf, an’ if anybody wants 
to call me to do any diff erent, they’ve got 
to holler mighty loud.” 

Eliza’s only reply to this was a long 
breath, for she was asleep; and Nell, with 
240 


MORE WEDDING BELLS 


eyes fixed on a friendly star which looked 
intently through the window, soon fol- 
lowed her example. The star moved on 
and upward, and others followed it across 
the broad panes, and the twins still slept; 
while out in the spangled night, hurrying 
onward through the darkness, Sister Aline 
was going to a new life, new joys, new 
work, and new happiness. 


THE END 


241 



Judith’s Garden 

By MARY E. STONE BASSETT 

With illustrations in color by George Wright* Text printed 
in two colors throughout, with special ornamentation* 
8vo, light green silk cloth, rough edges, gilt top, $1.50 

A N exquisite, delicious, charming book, 
as fresh as new-mown hay, as fragrant 
as the odor from the garden of the gods. 
It is the story of a garden, a woman, and a 
man. The woman is delicate and refined, 
witty, and interesting; the man is Irish, 
funny, original, happy, — a delicious and 
perfect foil to the woman. His brogue is 
stunning, and his wit infectious and fetching. 
The garden is quite all right. There is move- 
ment in the book ; life is abundant, and it 
attracts. It will catch the interest of every 
lover of flowers, — and their name is legion, 
— and will delight and comfort every reader. 


Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston 


The Potter and the Clay 

A Romance of To-day 

By MAUD HOWARD PETERSON. Bound In Slue doth, 
decorative cover, rough edges, gilt top. Four drawings by- 
Charlotte Harding. Size, 5x7^. Price $1.50 


O NE of the strongest and most forceful of re- 
cent novels, now attracting marked attention, 
and already one of the most successful books of 
the present year. The characters are unique, 
the plot is puzzling, and the action is remarkably 
vivid. Readers and critics alike pronounce it a 
romance of rare strength and beauty. The scenes 
are laid in America, Scotland, and India ; and one 
of the most thrilling and pathetic chapters in re- 
cent fiction is found in Trevelyan’s heroic self- 
sacrifice during the heart-rending epidemic of 
cholera in the latter country. The story through* 
out is one of great strength. 

Margaret E. Sangster : u From the opening I 
chapter, which tugs at the heart, to the close, X 
when we read through tears, the charm of the ; 
book never flags. It is not for one season, but 
of abiding human interest.” 

Minot J. Savage : “ I predict for the book a very 

large sale, and for the authoress brilliant work 
in the future.” 

Boston Journal t “ One of the most remarkable books 
of the year. Brilliant, but better than that, 

tender.” 


Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston 


Cbe Cittlc Green Door 

By MART E. STONE BASSETT 

Eight illustrations by Louise Clarke and twenty-five decorative 
half-title pages by Ethel Pearce Clements 

izmo Cloth $1.50 


A charming romance of the time of 
Louis XIII. The door which 
gives the title to the book leads to a 
beautiful retired garden belonging to the 
King. In this garden is developed one of 
the sweetest and tenderest romances ever 
told. The tone of the book is singularly 
pure and elevated, although its power is 
intense. 


“This is a tale of limpid purity and sweetness, which, although 
its action is developed amid the intrigues and deceptions of a corrupt 
French court, remains fine and delicate to the end. There is 
power as well as poetry in the little romance, so delicate in con- 
ception .” — Chicago Daily News. 

“Tender, sweet, passionate, pure; a lily from the garden of 
loves. ’ ’ — Baltimore Herald . 

“The story is exquisitely pure and tender, possessing a finished 
daintiness that will charm all clean-minded persons. ’ ’ — Louisville 
Courier-Journal. 

“This book carries with it all the exhilaration of a beautiful 
nature, of flowers, birds, and living things, and the beauty of a 
winsome personality of a pure, beautiful girl. It is a romance en- 
tirely of the fancy, but a refreshing one .” — Chicago Tribune. 

“The little romance is charmingly wrought, and will be sure to 
find its way to the heart of the reader .” — Boston Transcript. 


Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 

BOSTON 


MISS BILLY 

A NEIGHBORHOOD STORY 


By EDITH K. STOKELY and MARIAN K. HURD 
Illustrated by CHARLES COPELAND 
i2mo Cloth 1.50 


“\TISS BILLY” deserves more than passing 
A 1 notice in these days of civic improvement. 
It is a story of what an irrepressible young woman 
accomplished in the neighborhood into which her 
family felt obliged to move for financial reasons. 
The street was almost as unpromising as the celebrated 
“Cabbage Patch.” and its characters equally inter- 
esting and original. The happy common-sense of 
Miss Billy and the quaint sayings and doings of 
her new neighbors form a capital story. 


“The story abounds in humor with a hint of tears and an over- 
flowing kindness of heart bubbling over in infectious gayety.’’ 

— Boston Herald . 

“The book is sure to have an immense number of readers.' * 

— St. Louis Star . 

“The plan of the tale is original, the conversation very bright and 
witty, the style smooth, and the characters true to life.” 

— Boston Transcript. 

“It is a human interest story which appeals to the heart, and at 
one juncture to the eyes of the sympathetic readers.” 

— Pittsburg Chronicle Telegraph. 

“ ‘Miss Billy’ is a charmingly bright, clever little story, full of 
spontaneous humor and frankly inspirational.” 

— Chicago Daily News. 

“This is an ideal story.” — N. Y. Times. 


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The Lions of the Lord 

By HARRY LEON WILSON 

Author of “ The Spenders.” Six illustrations by Rose Cecil 

O’Neill, bound in dark green cloth, illustrated cover, i2mo. 

#^.50, postpaid. 

In his romance of the old West, “ The Lions of the Lord,” 
Mr. Wilson, whose “ The Spenders ” is one of the successes 
of the present year, shows an advance in strength and grasp 
both in art and life. It is a thrilling tale of the Mormon set- 
tlement of Salt Lake City, with all its grotesque comedy, 
grim tragedy, and import to American civilization. The 
author’s feeling for the Western scenery affords him an 
opportunity for many graphic pen pictures, and he is equally 
strong in character and in description. For the first time in 
a novel is the tragi-comedy of the Mormon development 
adequately set forth. Nothing fresher or more vital has 
been produced by a native novelist. 


The Spenders 

By HARRY LEON WILSON 
70th Thousand 

Author of “ The Lions of the Lord.” Red silk cloth, rough 
edges, picture cover. Six illustrations by Rose Cecil 
O’Neill. i2mo. $1.50, postpaid. 

Mark Twain writes to the author: “It cost me my day 
yesterday. You owe me $400. But never mind, I forgive 
you for the book’s sake.” 

Louisville Courier-Journal says: “If there is such a thing 
as the American novel of a new method, this is one. Abso- 
lutely to be enjoyed is it from the first page to the last.” 

Harry Thurston Peck, in the New York American, says: 

“ The very best two books written by Americans during the 
past year have been * The Spenders,’ by Harry Leon Wilson, 
and ‘ The Pit,’ by Frank Norris.” 

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston 


Dorothy South 


A Love Story of Virginia Before the War 

By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON 
Author of “A Carolina Cavalier” 

Illustrated by C. D. Williams. 12mo, dark red cloth, portrait 
cover, rough edges, gilt top, $1.50 



HIS distinguished author gives us a 


A most fascinating picture of Virginia’s 
golden age, her fair sons and daughters, beau- 
tiful, picturesque homes, and the luxurious, 
bountiful life of the old-school gentleman. 
Dorothy South has been described in these 
characteristic words by Frank R. Stockton : 
“ Learned, lovely ; musical, lovely ; loving, 
lovely ; so goes Dorothy through the book, 
and sad would be the fate of poor Arthur 
Brent, and all of us, if she could be stolen 
out of it.” This is a typically pretty story, 
clear and sweet and pure as the Southern 


sky. 


Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston 


FOUR GORDONS 

By EDNA A. BROWN 

Illustrated Large 12mo Decorated Cover $1.50 

T OUISE and her three brothers are the (t Four 
' Gordons,” and the story relates their ex- 
periences at home and school during the absence 
of their parents for a winter in Italy. There 
is plenty of fun and frolic, with skating, coast- 
ing, dancing, and a jolly Christmas visit. The 
conversation is bright and natural, the book 
presents no improbable situations, its atmos- 
phere is one of refinement, and it has the merit 
of depicting simple and wholesome comradeship 
between boys and girls. 

“ The story and its telling are worthy of Miss Al- 
c^tt. Young folks of both sexes will enjoy it.” — 
uV. T. Sun . 

•* It is a hearty, wholesome story of youthful life 
in which the morals are never explained but simply 
illustrated by logical results.”— Christian Register . 

UNCLE DAVID’S BOYS 

By EDNA A. BROWN 

Illustrated by John Goss 12mo Cloth 
Price, Net, $1.00 Postpaid, $1.10 

T HIS tells how some young people whom cir- 
cumstances brought together in a little moun- 
tain village spent a summer vacation, full of good 
times, but with some unexpected and rather mys- 
terious occurrences. In the end, more than one 
head was required to find out exactly what was 
going on. The story is a wholesome one with a 
pleasant, well-bred atmosphere, and though it 
holds the interest, it never approaches the sensa- 
tional nor passes the bounds of the probable. 

“A story which will hold the attention of youthful 
readers from cover to cover and prove not without its 
interest for older readers .” — Evening Wisconsin. 

“ For those young people who like a lively story 
with some unmistakably old fashioned characteristics, 
« Uncle David’s Boys,’ will have a strong appeal.” — 
Churchman, 




For solo by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt of 
price by the publishers 

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MOTHER TUCKER’S SEVEN 

By ANGELINA W. WRAY 

Illustrated by Elizabeth Withingtoir 
Large 12mo Cloth $1.25 

H ERE is a story that appeals to one in- 
stantly, and which contains the same ele- 
ments that have made the famous “Pepper 
Books” the success that they are, the merry, 
active life of a loving family forced to find 
pleasure in most economical ways, but never 
letting it prevent very great happiness in each 
other, and the resolute overcoming of obsta- 
cles. “Mother Tucker” is the refined, deli- 
cate widow of a country clergyman who has 
lost his life in an act of heroism, and the seven 
children are of varying ages, but all are busy 
and cheery. How the boys plan to earn money, 
how love for her own family proves stronger 
than the attraction of wealth to pretty Molly, 
and what even little Martha can do, must be read to be appreciated, 
and one need not be ashamed of wet eyes when * ‘ Merry ” wins a prize 
on a piece written in secret by her kind oldest sister. They deserve 
every bit of the good fortune that comes to them. 

“ It is a good, healthy story, and breathes a cheery optimism which may 
bring courage to others who are similarly circumstanced .** — Springjield 
Republican . 



“The book is full of the wholesome every-day matters of a poor family, 
beautified by an unvarying spirit of bravery and cheerfulness .** — New York 
Times. 

“ This is an appealing story of real merit and those elements of life which 
are bound to win, not only popularity for the author, but also esteem and sue* 
cess for those wrx are influenced by it .”— Religious Telescope , Dayton % O. 


For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 
price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Boston 


HOnE ENTERTAINING 

What to Do, and How to Do It 

Edited by WILLIAH E. CHENERY 

12mo Cloth Price, Net, $.75 Postpaid, $.85 

'yHIS book is the product of years of study 
and the practical trying-out of every con- 
ceivable form of indoor entertainment. All the 
games, tricks, puzzles, and rainy-day and social- 
evening diversions have been practised by the 
editor; many are original with him, and many 
that are of course not original have been greatly 
improved by his intelligence. All are told in the 
plainest possible way, and with excellent taste. 
The book is well arranged and finely printed. At 
a low price it places within the reach of all the 
very best of bright and jolly means of making 
home what it ought to be — the best place for a good time by those of all 
ages. 

“The book is bright and up to date, full of cheer and sunshine. A good 
holiday book.” — Religious Telescope , Dayton , Ohio . 

“ For those who want new games for the home this book supplies the very best 
— good, clean, hearty games, full of fun and the spirit of laughter.”— N. T. Times. 

“Altogether the book is a perfect treasure-house for the young people’s rainy 
day or social evening.” — New Bedjord Standard. 

“The arrangement is excellent and the instructions so simple that a child may 
follow them. A book like this is just the thing for social evenings.” — Christian 
Endeavor World. 

“A book giving the best, cleanest and brightest games and tricks for home 
entertaining.” — Syracuse Herald. 

“The book is clearly written and should prove of value to every young man 
who aspires to be the life of the party.” — Baltimore Sun. 

“Only good, bright, clean games and tricks appeal to Mr. Chenery, and he 
has told in the simplest and most comprehensive manner how to get up * amuse- 
ments for every one.’ Hartford Courant. 


Far sale by all bookseller a or sent on receipt of postpaid 
prioe by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



LITTLE RED HOUSE SERIES 

By AriANDA n. DOUGLAS 

Illustrated by Louise Wyman 12mo Cloth 
Price, Net, $1.00 each Postpaid, $1.10 

THE CHILDREN IN THE LITTLE 
OLD RED HOUSE 

T HE very title of this book gives promise of 
a good story, and when we know that there 
are eight of these children, as loving as they are 
lively, there can be no doubt of the good things 
in store for the reader. Their efforts to help the 
dearest of mothers, their merriment, which no 
poverty can subdue, and the great and well- 
deserved good fortune which comes to them, 
move us in rapid succession to sympathy, amuse- 
ment, and delight. 

It is a sunshiny story of the best things in life. 
Men and women today need such stories quite as much 
as the children. It is as quaint as the “Pepper Books” 
for little folks, but carries a deeper treasure for older 
people .” — Universalist Leader. 

THE RED HOUSE CHILDREN 
AT GRAFTON 

E IGHT bright children, with a kind and 
loving mother, make up the Red House 
family, and the change to better circumstances 
through a new father, and a good one, does 
not in the least “spoil” them. There is some 
doubt on the part of a few of their new neigh- 
bors as to whether these numerous brothers and 
sisters will be good to know, but all who meet 
them are speedily won to friendship. Fun and 
frolic in plenty are a part of their wholesome 
development, and the story does not drag for 
a moment. 

" It is filled with fun andfrolic,and yet has aten- 
dency to carry the children’s minds to higher and 
better things .” — Buffalo Commercial. 




For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt ot 
price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


NEXT-NIGHT STORIES 

By CLARENCE JOHNSON MESSER 


Illustrated by L. J. Bridgman 12mo Cloth 
Decorated Cover Price, Net, $1.00 Postpaid, $1.10 

MASTER hand at telling “animal stories*’ 
holds the attention of four bright children 
so successfully that the demand for a “next- 
night story” cannot be denied, and twelve of 
the finest stories since “Uncle Remus’* and 
Hans Christian Andersen are in this book. By 
endowing animals with speech and causing them 
to show human emotions, rich entertainment is 
furnished, and an excellent lesson of kindness 
and duty — not too prominent — is plain to see in 
each night’s fascinating disclosure. The stories 
in their order are: The Proud and Foolish 
Peacock; Tinklebell; The Donkey and the Wolf; The Fox, the Raccoon, 
and the Bun:*; The Dwarfs; The Frog Girl; Granny Chipmunk’s Lesson; 
The Horse md the Hen; Dandy Beaver and Sippy Woodchuck; Sambo 
and Jerry; The Bird of Prey; The Hen That Ran Away. Children will 
be charmed and grown-ups will not only be glad of such fine material for 
captivating young listeners, but will themselves be interested in the skill- 
fully-told tales and in the pretty, humorous connecting thread of incidents 
that made the stories possible and had such a happy ending. 

•* When confronted by the tell-me-a-story challenge for a hundredth time these 
tales will prove a boon by replenishing your exhausted supply. They are models 
of their hind .'’ — Christian Worlds Cleveland. 

•• Children will be charmed, and even grown-ups cannot help being interested in 
the skillfully-told tales "—Milwaukee Free Press. 

“NEXT-NIGHT STORIES are the kind that please as well as teach the ever 
useful lesson of kindness to dumb creatures .” — Buffalo Commercial. 

“One need not fear lest this volume will find willing listeners; the difficulty 
will be to limit them to a single story a night .” — Troy Record . 


For sale by all booksellers or seat oa receipt of postpaid 
price by the publishers 

L0THR0P, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



American Heroes and Heroines 



By Pauline Carrington Bouve Illustrated 
i2mo Cloth $1.25 

T HIS book, which will tend directly toward 
the making of patriotism in young Americans, 
contains some twenty brief, clever and attractive 
sketches of famous men and women in American 
history, among them Father Marquette, Anne 
Hutchinson, Israel Putnam, Molly Pitcher, Paul 
Jones, Dolly Madison, Daniel Boone, etc. Mrs. 
Bouvd is well known as a writer both of fiction and 
history, and her work in this case is admirable. 

“The style of the book for simplicity and clearness 
of expression could hardly be excelled.” — Boston 
Budget. 


The Scarlet Patch 

The Story of a Patriot Boy in the Mohawk Valley 

By Mary E. Q. Brush Illustrated by George W. Picknell $1.25 
ur PHE Scarlet Patch” was the badge of a Tory organization, and a 
X loyal patriot boy, Donald Bastien, is dismayed at learning that his 
uncle, with whom he is a “bound boy,” is secretly connected with this 
treacherous band. Thrilling scenes follow in which a faithful Indian 
figures prominently, and there is a vivid presentation of the school and 
home life as well as the public affairs of those times. 

“ A book that will be most valuable to the library of the young boy.” — Provi- 
dence News . 


Stories of Brave Old Times 


Some Pen Pictures of Scenes Which 
Took Place Previous to, or Connected 
With, the American Revolution 

By Helen M. Cleveland Profusely illustra- 
ted Large i2mo Cloth $1.25 

I T is a book for every library, a book for 
adults, and a book for the young. Per- 
haps no other book yet written sets the great 
cost of freedom so clearly before the young, 
consequently is such a spur to patriotism. 

“ It can unqualifiedly be commended as a book for 
youthful readers; its great wealth of illustrations 
adding to its value.” — Chicago News. 



For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price 
by the publishers, 


LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


Fatnoas Children 

By H. Twitchell Illustrated $1.25 


TITE have here a most valuable book, telling 
** not of the childhood of those who have 


afterwards become famous, but those who as 
children are famous in history, song, and story. 
For convenience the subjects are grouped as 
“ Royal Children,” “ Child Artists,” “Learned 
Children,” “ Devoted Children,” “Child Mar- 
tyrs,” and “Heroic Children,” and the names 
of the “ two little princes,” Louis XVII., Mo- 
zart, St. Genevieve, David, and Joan of Arc are 
here, as well as those of many more. 



The Stony of the Cid People ^ 

By Calvin Dill Wilson Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy $1.25 

M R. WILSON, a well-known writer and reviewer, has prepared from 
Southey’s translation, which was far too cumbrous to entertain the 
young, a book that will kindle the imagination of youth and entertain and 
inform those of advanced years. 



Jason’s Qaest 

By D. O. S. Lowell, A. M., M. D. Master in 
Roxbury Latin School Illustrated $1.00 

j\TOTHING can be better to arouse the imagin- 
■L * ation of boys and girls, and at the same 
time store in their minds knowledge indispens- 
able to any one who would be known as cul- 
tured, or happier than Professor Lowell’s way 
of telling a story, and the many excellent draw- 
ings have lent great spirit to the narrative. 


flenoes of the Cmsades 

By Amanda M. Douglas Cloth Fifty full-page illustrations $1.50 

T HE romantic interest in the days of chivalry, so fully exemplified by 
the “ Heroes of the Crusades,” is permanent and properly so. This 
book is fitted to keep it alive without descending to improbability or 
cheap sensationalism. 


For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid oa receipt of price 
by the publishers, 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


Fifty Flower Friends 

With Familiar Faces 

By EDITH DUNHAM 

A FIELD BOOK FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 

With twelve full-page colored plates, decorations and fifty te»e% 
illustrations from nature by W. I. BEECROFT $1.50 

/CHILDREN cannot too soon begin to 
know the wild flowers, and here they 
are told in a charming way where and when 
to look for each of fifty widely distributed 
common flowering plants; also how they get 
their names, and how to know them from the 
remarkably accurate drawings of Mr. Beecroft, 
a skilled botanist and superior artist. Each 
of the fifty flowers has a page of accurate 
botanical description in addition to its story. 

Thus the book is suited for varying ages. 


“The greatest praise can be bestowed upon and every mother and father should 
have one and by it better educate their children in nature, which will prove not 
only an enjoyable study, but an instructive one.’' — Providence News* 

“ Good brief descriptions, good clear pictures, portraits almost, of each flower 
friend, a beautiful cover, convenient arrangement, and fine large print, make a 
perfect book to own, or to give to any one, especially a child.”— Universaltst 
Leader . 



“ If the children do not learn something new about flowers this summer it may 
be because their unkind parents have not bought them Miss Edith Dunham’s 
•Fifty Flower Friends.* **— New Tork Times. 


“ The boy or girl into whose hands this book is placed can hardly fail io acquire 
a real and lasting interest in our every-day wild flowers,*’ — The Dial, 


" It has no rival in books of its kind, either in text or illustration.” — Boston 
Budget. 


Pot Ml* I bt mil booksellers or sent postpaid 00 receipt of 
price by the publishers 

L0THROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 













































































































































































































































































































































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